^1111 


m 1 1 i i ^ 


i f 1 T f 


■ If! f 7 


Sa^m '"* "^ ■■** "* ■» 

^^ •'*^ .'^ ^^. ,__*^_. .„.: 


■MM diMMM ^ i i .i 


The 
Shai^esaearr 



Bsther Sincileton 




Class. 



^^30^ 



Book 



6^ 



dspghtij?. 



CDIVREGHT DEPOStr. 



THE 
SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 




STRATFORD-UPON-AVON, NEW PLACE, BO.^DER OF ANNUALS 



THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 
BY ESTHER SINGLETON <*, <*, 
WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRA- 
TIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS 
AND REPRODUCTIONS OF 
OLD WOOD CUTS ^ ($b 6a <Sb 




PUBLISHED BY THE CENTURY CO. 
NEW YORK O O M CM XX II 






Copyright, 1922, by 
The Century Co. 



Printed in U. S. A. 



OCT 23 '22 

©C1AG86462 



J 



V) 



\- 



h 



To THE MEMORY OF 
MY MOTHER 

WHOSE RARE ARTISTIC TASTES AND WHOSE CULTURED 

INTELLECT LED ME IN EARLY YEARS TO THE APPRE- 

aATION OF SHAKESPEARE AND ALL MANIFESTATIONS 

OF BEAUTY IN LITERATURE AND ART 



PREFACE 

In adding another book to the enormous number 
of works on Shakespeare, I beg indulgence for a 
few words of explanation. 

Having been for many years an ardent and a 
devoted student of Shakespeare, I discovered long 
ago that there was no adequate book on the Eliza- 
bethan garden and the condition of horticulture in 
Shakespeare's time. Every Shakespeare student 
knows how frequently and with what subtle appre- 
ciation Shakespeare speaks of flowers. Shakespeare 
loved all the simple blossoms that "paint the mead- 
ows with delight" : he loved the mossy banks in 
the forest carpeted with wild thyme and "nodding 
violets" and o'er-canopied with eglantine and honey- 
suckle; he loved the cowslips in their gold coats 
spotted with rubies, "the azured harebells" and the 
"daffodils that come before the swallow dares" ; he 
loved the "winking mary-buds," or marigolds, that 
"ope their golden eyes" in the first beams of the 
morning sun; he loved the stately flowers of stately 
gardens — the delicious musk-rose, "lilies of all 
kinds," and the flower-de-luce; and he loved all the 



viii PREFACE 

new "outlandish" flowers, such as the crown-impe- 
rial just introduced from Constantinople and "lark's 
heels trim" from the West Indies. 

Shakespeare no doubt visited Master Tuggie's 
garden at Westminster, in which Ralph Tuggie and 
later his widow, "Mistress Tuggie," specialized in 
carnations and gilliflowers, and the gardens of 
Gerard, Parkinson, Lord Zouche, and Lord Bur- 
leigh. In addition to these, he knew the gardens 
of the fine estates in Warwickshire and the simple 
cottage gardens, such as charm the American visitor 
in rural England. When Shakespeare calls for a 
garden scene, as he does in "Twelfth Night," 
"Romeo and Juliet," and "King Richard II," it is 
the "stately garden" that he has in his mind's eye, 
the finest type of a Tudor garden, with terraces, 
"knots," and arbors. In "Love's Labour's Lost" is 
mentioned the "curious knotted garden." 

Realizing the importance of reproducing an ac- 
curate representation of the garden of Shakespeare's 
time the authorities at Stratford-upon-Avon have 
recently rearranged "the garden" of Shakespeare's 
birthplace; and the flowers of each season succeed 
each other in the proper "knots" and in the true 
Elizabethan atmosphere. Of recent years it has 
been a fad among American garden lovers to set 



PREFACE ix 

apart a little space for a "Shakespeare garden," 
where a few old-fashioned English flowers are 
planted in beds of somewhat formal arrangement. 
These gardens are not, however, by any means rep- 
licas of the simple garden of Shakespeare's time, or 
of the stately garden as worked out by the skilful 
Elizabethans. 

It is my hope, therefore, that this book will help 
those who desire a perfect Shakespeare garden, be- 
sides giving Shakespeare lovers a new idea of the 
gardens and flowers of Shakespeare's time. 

Part One is devoted to the history and evolution 
of the small enclosed garden within the walls of 
the medieval castle into the Garden of Delight 
which Parkinson describes; the Elizabethan garden, 
the herbalists and horticulturists; and the new "out- 
landish" flowers. Part Two describes the flowers 
mentioned by Shakespeare and much quaint flower 
lore. Part Three is devoted to technical hints, in- 
struction and practical suggestions for making a 
correct Shakespeare garden. 

Shakespeare does not mention all the flowers that 
were familiar in his day, and, therefore, I have de- 
scribed in detail only those spoken of in his plays. 
I have chosen only the varieties that were known to 
Shakespeare; and in a Shakespeare garden only 



X PREFACE 

such specimens should be planted. For example, 
it would be an anachronism to grow the superb mod- 
ern pansies, for the "pansy freaked with jet," as 
Milton so beautifully calls it, is the tiny heartsease, 
or "johnny-jump-up." 

On the other hand, the carnations (or "sops-in- 
wine") and gilliflowers were highly developed in 
Shakespeare's day and existed in bewildering va- 
riety. 

We read of such specimens as the Orange Tawny 
Gilliflower, the Grandpere, the Lustie Gallant or 
Westminster, the Queen's Gilliflower, the Dainty, 
the Fair Maid of Kent or Ruffling Robin, the 
Feathered Tawny, Master Bradshaw's Dainty 
Lady, and Master Tuggie's Princess, besides many 
other delightful names. 

](l have carefully read every word in Parkinson's 
huge volume, Paradisi in Sole; Paradisus Terres- 
tris (London, 1629), to select from his practical 
instructions to gardeners and also his charming bits 
of description. I need not apologize for quoting so 
frequently his intimate and loving characterizations 
of those flowers that are "nourished up in gardens." 
Take, for example, the following description of the 
"Great Harwich": 



PREFACE xi 

I take [says Parkinson] this goodly, great old English 
Carnation as a precedent for the description of all the rest, 
which for his beauty and stateliness is worthy of a prime 
place. It riseth up with a great, thick, round stalk divided 
into several branches, somewhat thickly set with joints, and 
at every joint two long, green (rather than whitish) leaves 
turning or winding two or three times round. The flowers 
stand at the tops of the stalks in long, great and round 
green husks, which are divided into five points, out of which 
rise many long and broad pointed leaves deeply jagged at 
the ends, set in order, round and comely, making a gallant, 
great double Flower of a deep carnation color almost red, 
spotted with many bluish spots and streaks, some greater 
and some lesser, of an excellent soft, sweet scent, neither too 
quick, as many others of these kinds are, nor yet too dull, 
and with two whitish crooked threads like horns in the 
middle. This kind never beareth many flowers, but as it is 
slow in growing, so in bearing, not to be often handled, 
which showeth a kind of stateliness fit to preserve the opinion 
of magnificence. 

It will amaze the reader, perhaps, to learn that 
horticulture was in such a high state of development. 
Some wealthy London merchants and noblemen, 
Nicholas Leate, for example, actually kept agents 
traveling in the Orient and elsewhere to search for 
rare bulbs and plants. Explorers in the New World 
also brought home new plants and flowers. Sir 
Walter Raleigh imported the sweet potato and to- 



/ 



xii PREFACE 

bacco (but neither is mentioned by Shakespeare) 
and from the West Indies came the Nasturtiu?n In- 
dicum — "Yellow Lark's Heels," as the Elizabethans 
called it. 

Many persons will be interested to learn the quaint 
old flower names, such as "Sops-in-Wine," the 
"Frantic Foolish Cowslip," "Jack-an-Apes on Horse- 
back," "Love in Idleness," "Dian's Bud," etc. 

The Elizabethans enjoyed their gardens and used 
them more than we use ours to-day. They went to 
them for re-creation — a renewing of body and re- 
freshment of mind and spirit. They loved their 
shady walks, their pleached alleys, their flower- 
wreathed arbors, their banks of thyme, rosemary, 
and woodbine, their intricate "knots" bordered with 
box or thrift and filled with bright blossoms, and 
their labyrinths, or mazes. Garden lovers were criti- 
cal and careful about the arrangement and grouping 
of their flowers. To-day we try for masses of color; 
but the Elizabethans went farther than we do, for 
they blended their hues and even shaded colors from 
dark to light. The people of Shakespeare's day were 
also fastidious about perfume values — something 
we do not think about to-day. The planting of 
flowers with regard to the "perfume on the air," as 
Bacon describes it, was a part of ordinary garden 



PREFACE xiii 

lore. We have altogether lost this delicacy of gar- 
dening. 

This book was the logical sequence of a talk I 
gave two years ago upon the "Gardens and Flowers 
of Shakespeare's Time" at the residence of Mrs. 
Charles H. Senff in New York, before the Interna- 
tional Garden Club. This talk was very cordially 
received and was repeated by request at the home of 
Mrs. Ernest H. Fahnestock, also in New York. 

I wish to express my thanks to Mr. Norman Tay- 
lor of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, for permission 
to reprint the first chapter, which appeared in the 
"Journal of the International Garden Club," of 
which he is the editor. I also wish to thank Mr. 
Taylor for his valued encouragement to me in the 
preparation of this book. 

I wish to direct attention to the remarkable por- 
trait of Nicholas Leate, one of the greatest flower 
collectors of his day, photographed especially for 
this book from the original portrait in oils, painted 
by Daniel Mytens for the Worshipful Company of 
Ironmongers, of which Leate was master in 1616, 
1626, and 1627. 

The portrait of this English worthy has never 
been photographed before ; and it is a great pleasure 
for me to bring before the public the features and 



xiv PREFACE 

personality of a man who was such a deep lover of 
horticulture and who held such a large place in the 
London world in Shakespeare's time. The dignity, 
refinement, distinction, and general atmosphere of 
Nicholas Leate — and evidently Mytens painted a 
direct portrait without flattery — bespeak the type of 
gentleman who sought re-creation in gardens and 
who could have held his own upon the subject with 
Sir Francis Bacon, Sir Thomas More, Sir Philip Sid- 
ney, Lord Burleigh, and Sir Henry Wotton — and, 
doubtless, he knew them all. 

It was not an easy matter to have this portrait 
photographed, because when the Hall of the Wor- 
shipful Company of Ironmongers was destroyed by 
a German bomb in 1917 the rescued portrait was 
stored in the National Gallery. Access to the por- 
trait was very difficult, and it was only through the 
great kindness of officials and personal friends that 
a reproduction was made possible. 

I wish, therefore, to thank the Worshipful Com- 
pany of Ironmongers for the gracious permission to 
have the portrait photographed and to express my 
gratitude to Mr. Collins Baker, keeper of the Na- 
tional Gallery, and to Mr. Ambrose, chief clerk and 
secretary of the National Gallery, for their kind co- 
operation; to Mr. C. W. Carey, curator of the 



PREFACE XV 

Royal Holloway College Gallery, who spent two 
days in photographing the masterpiece; and also to 
Sir Evan Spicer of the Dulwich Gallery and to my 
sister, Mrs. Carrington, through whose joint efforts 
the arrangements were perfected. 

I also wish to thank the Trustees and Guardians 
of Shakespeare's Birthplace, who, through their 
Secretary, Mr. F. C, Wellstood, have supplied me 
with several photographs of the Shakespeare Garden 
at Stratford-upon-Avon, especially taken for this 
book, with permission for their reproduction. 

E. S. 

New York, September 4, 1922. 



CONTENTS 



PART ONE 
THE GARDEN OF DELIGHT 

Evolution of the Shakespeare Garden 
I. The Medieval Pleasance 
Garden of Delight . 
The Italian Renaissance Garden 
Bagh-i-Vafa . 
New Fad for Flowers 
Tudor Gardens . 
Garden Pleasures 



II. 
III. 
IV. 

V. 

VI. 

VII. 



The Curious Knotted Garden . 

I. Flower Lovers and Herbalists 
II. The Elizabethan Garden . 

III. Old Garden Authors . 

IV. "Outlandish" and English Flowers 



PAGE 

3 

3 

11 

15 
19 

21 

25 

29 

31 
31 

40 

68 
78 



PART TV^O 

THE FLOW^ERS OF SHAKESPEARE 

Spring: "The Sweet o' THE Year" 93 

I. Primroses, Cowslips, and Oxlips . . 93 
II. "Daffodils That Come Before the Swal- 
low Dares" 109 

III. "Daisies Pied and Violets Blue" . .118 

IV. "Lady-smocks All Silver W^hite" and 

"Cuckoo-buds of Every Yellow Hue" 130 
xvii 



XVI 11 



CONTENTS 



V. Anemones and "Azured Harebells" 
VI. Columbine and Broom-flower 

Summer: "Sweet Summer Buds" 
I. 

II. 

III. 

IV. 

V. 

VI. 

VII. 

VIII. 

IX. 

X. 

Autumn : " 
Poison" 

I. 

II. 

III. 

IV. 

V. 



"Morning Roses Newly Washed with 
Dew" 

"Lilies of All Kinds" . . . 

Crown-Imperial and Flower-de-Luce 

Fern and Honeysuckle . 

Carnations and Gilliflowers 

Marigold and Larkspur 

Pansies for Thoughts and Poppies 
Dreams 

Crow-flowers and Long Purples 

Saffron Crocus and Cuckoo-flowers 

Pomegranate and Myrtle 

Herbs of Grace" and "Drams of 



for 



Rosemary and Rue 

Lavender, Mints, and Fennel . 
Sweet Marjoram, Thyme, and Savory 
Sweet Balm and Camomile 
Dian's Bud and Monk's-hood Blue 



133 
137 

145 

145 
160 
167 

175 
181 

189 

200 
207 
210 
215 

224 
224 
231 
236 

243 
246 



Winter: "When Icicles Hang by the Wall" . 253 

I. Holly and Ivy 253 

II. Mistletoe and Box 261 

PART THREE 
PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS 

The Lay-out of Stately and Small Formal Gar- 
dens 269 

I. The Stately Garden 271 



CONTENTS xix 



PAGE 



II. The Small Garden 276 

III. Soil and Seed 278 

IV. The Gateway 280 

V. The Garden House 281 

VI. The Mount 282 

VII. Rustic Arches 282 

VIII. Seats 284 

IX. Vases, Jars, and Tubs 284 

X. Fountains 285 

XI. The Dove-cote 287 

XII. The Sun-dial 288 

XIII. The Terrace 289 

XIV. The Pleached Alley 292 

XV. Hedges 293 

XVI. Paths 294 

XVII. Borders .295 

XVIII. Edgings 297 

XIX. Knots 298 

XX. The Rock Garden 302 

XXI. Flowers 302 

XXII. Potpourri 324 

A Maske of Flowers 325 

Complete List of Shakespearean Flowers with 

Botanical Identifications 331 

Appendix 333 

Elizabethan Gardens at Shakespeare's Birth- 
place 333 

Index 347 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

Stratford-upon-Avon, New Place, Border of Annuals 



y 



Frontispiece 

FACING PAGE 

Fifteenth Century Garden within Castle Walls, French 8 *^ 

Lovers in the Castle Garden, Fifteenth Century MS. . 17 o/ 
Garden of Delight, Romaunt of the Rose, Fifteenth 

Century 17 •/ 

Babar's Garden of Fidelity 20 *-' 

Italian Renaissance Garden, Villa Giusti, Verona . 29 / 

John Gerard, Lobel and Parkinson 32 

Nicholas Leate 36 "^ 

The Knot-Garden, New Place, Stratford-upon-Avon . 45 1/ 

Typical Garden of Shakespeare's Time, Crispin de 

Passe (1614) 56 

Labyrinth, Vredeman de Vries 64 >/ 

A Curious Knotted Garden, Crispin de Passe (1614) 64/ 

The Knot-Garden, New Place, Stratford-upon-Avon . 72 «/ 

Border, New Place, Stratford-upon-Avon . . . . 81 v/ 

Herbaceous Border, New Place, Stratford-upon-Avon 88 ' 

Carnations and Gilliflowers ; Primroses and Cowslips ; 

and Daffodils: from Parkinson 97 

Gardeners at Work, Sixteenth Century . . . . 112 

Garden Pleasures, Sixteenth Century 112' 

Garden in Macbeth's Castle of Cawdor . . . . 116^ 

Shakespeare's Birthplace, Stratford-upon-Avon . . 125V 

zxi 



xxii ILLUSTRATIONS 

FACING I 

13' 



FACING PAGE , 

Elizabethan Manor House, Haddon Hall .... i'^6'' 



Rose Arbor, Warley, England 

Red, White, Damask and Musk-Roses ; Lilies and Eg- 
lantines and Dog-Roses : from Parkinson 

Martagon Lilies, Warley, England 

Wilton Gardens from de Caux 

Wilton Gardens To-day 

A Garden of Delight 

Sir Thomas More's Gardens, Chelsea 



45/ 

76^, 
93^ 



Pleaching and Plashing, from The Gardener's Laby- / 

rinth 209^ 

Small Enclosed Garden, from The Gardener's Laby- i 

rinth 20gJ 

A Curious Knotted Garden, Vredeman de Vries . . 224^/ 

Garden with Arbors, Vredeman de Vries .... 224 v* 

Shakespeare Garden, Van Cortlandt House Museum, 

Van Cortlandt Park, Colonial Dames of the State , 

of New York 241 J 

Tudor Manor House with Modern Arrangement of 

Gardens 256 

Garden House in Old English Garden .... 272 v 

Fountains, Sixteenth Century 289 v 

Sunken Gardens, Sunderland Hall, with Unusual 

Treatment of Hedges 304'/ 

Knots from Markham 321 v/> 

Simple Garden Beds ^2 



Vj 



PART ONE 
THE GARDEN OF DELIGHT 



EVOLUTION OF THE SHAKESPEARE 
GARDEN 



The Medieval Pleasance 

SHAKESPEARE was familiar with two kinds 
of gardens: the stately and magnificent gar- 
den that embellished the castles and manor- 
houses of the nobility and gentry; and the small and 
simple garden such as he had himself at Stratford- 
on-Avon and such as he walked through when he 
visited Ann Hathaway in her cottage at Shottery. 

The latter is the kind that is now associated with 
Shakespeare's name; and when garden lovers de- 
vote a section of their grounds to a "Shakespeare 
garden" it is the small, enclosed garden, such as 
Perdita must have had, that they endeavor to re- 
produce. 

The small garden of Shakespeare's day, which w"^ 
so lovingly call by his name, was a little pleasure 
garden — a garden to stroll in and to sit in. The 



4 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

garden, moreover, had another purpose: it was in- 
tended to supply flowers for "nosegays" and herbs 
for "strewings." The Shakespeare garden was a 
continuation, or development, of the Medieval 
"Pleasance," where quiet ladies retired with their 
embroidery frames to work and dream of their Cru- 
sader lovers, husbands, fathers, sons, and brothers 
lying in the trenches before Acre and Ascalon, or 
storming the walls of Jerusalem and Jericho ; where 
lovers sat hand in hand listening to the songs of 
birds and to the still sweeter songs from their own 
palpitating hearts; where men of affairs frequently 
repaired for a quiet chat, or refreshment of spirit; 
and where gay groups of lords and ladies gathered 
to tell stories, to enjoy the recitation of a wander- 
ing trouvere^ or to sing to their lutes and viols, while 
jesters in doublets and hose of bright colors and 
cap and bells lounged nonchalantly on the grass to 
mock at all things — even love! 

In the illuminated manuscripts of old romans, 
such as "Huon of Bordeaux," the "Romaunt of the 
Rose," "Blonde of Oxford," "Flore et Blancheflore, 
Arnadis de Gaul," etc., there are many charming 
r.iiniatures to illustrate the word-pictures. From 
them we learn that the garden was actually within 
the castle walls and very small. The walls of the 



EVOLUTION OF THE GARDEN 5 

garden were broken by turrets and pierced with a 
little door, usually opposite the chief entrance; the 
walks were paved with brick or stone, or they were 
sanded, or graveled ; and at the intersection of these 
walks a graceful fountain usually tossed its spray 
upon the buds and blossoms. The little beds were 
laid out formally and were bright with flowers, 
growing singly and not in masses. Often, too, pots 
or vases were placed here and there at regular in- 
tervals, containing orange, lemon, bay, or cypress 
trees, their foliage beautifully trimmed in pyramids 
or globes that rose high above the tall stems. Not 
infrequently the garden rejoiced in a fruit-tree, or 
several fruit-trees. Stone or marble seats invitingly 
awaited visitors. 

The note here wad[ charming intimacy.) It was a 
spot where gentleness and sweetness reigned, and 
where, perforce, every flower enjoyed the air it 
breathed. It was a Garden of Delight for flowers, 
birds, and men. 

To trace the formal garden to its origin would 
take us far afield. We should have to go back to the 
ancient Egyptians, whose symmetrical and magnifi- 
cent gardens were luxurious in the extreme ; to Baby- 
lon, whose superb "Hanging Gardens" were among 
the Seven Wonders of the World; and to the 



6 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

Romans, who are still our teachers in the matter of 
beautiful gardening. The Roman villas that made 
Albion beautiful, as the great estates of the nobility 
and gentry make her beautiful to-day, lacked noth- 
ing in the way of ornamental gardens. Doubtless 
Pliny's garden was repeated again and again in the 
outposts of the Roman Empire. From these splen- 
did Roman gardens tradition has been handed 
down. 

There never has been a time in the history of 
England where the cultivation of the garden held 
pause. There is every reason to believe that the 
Anglo-Saxons were devoted to flowers. A poem in 
the "Exeter Book" has the lines: 

Of odors sweetest 
Such as in summer's tide 
Fragrance send forth in places. 
Fast in their stations, 
Joyously o'er the plains. 
Blown plants, 
Honey-flowing. 

No one could write "blown-plants, honey-flow- 
ing" without a deep and sophisticated love of 
flowers. . 

Every Anglo-Saxon gentleman had a garth^ ox\ 
garden, for pleasure, and an ort-garth for vegetables. 



EVOLUTION OF THE GARDEN 7 

In the garth the best loved flower was the lily, which 
blossomed beside the rose, sunflower, marigold, gilli- 
flower, violet, periwinkle, honeysuckle, daisy, peony, 
and bay-tree. 

Under the Norman kings, particularly Henry II, 
when the French and English courts were virtually 
the same, the citizens of London had gardens, 
"large, beautiful, and planted with various kinds of 
trees." Possibly even older scribes wrote accounts 
of some of these, but the earliest description of an 
English garden is contained in "De Naturis Rerum" 
by Alexander Neckan, who lived in the second half 
of the Twelfth Century. "A garden," he says, 
"should be adorned on this side with roses, lilies, 
the marigold, jnolis and mandrakes; on that side 
with parsley, cort, fennel, southernwood, coriander, 
sage, savory, hyssop, mint, rue, dittany, smallage, 
pellitory, lettuce, cresses, ortulano^ and the peony. 
Let there also be beds enriched with onions, leeks, 
garlic, melons, and scallions. The garden is also 
enriched by the cucumber, which creeps on its belly, 
and by the soporiferous poppy, as well as by the 
daffodil and the acanthus. Nor let pot-herbs be 
wanting, if you can help it, such as beets, herb 
mercury, orache, and the mallow. It is useful also 
to the gardener to have anise, mustard, white pepper. 



8 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

and wormwood." And then Neckan goes on to the 
fruit-trees and medicinal plants. The gardener's 
tools at this time were merely a knife for grafting, 
an ax, a pruning-hook, and a spade. A hundred 
years later the gardens of France and England were 
still about the same. When John de Garlande (an 
appropriate name for an amateur horticulturist) was 
studying at the University of Paris (Thirteenth Cen- 
tury) he had a garden, which he described in his , 
"Dictionarus," quaintly speaking of himself in the \ 
third person: "In Master John's garden are these 
plants: sage, parsley, dittany, hyssop, celandine, 
fennel, pellitory, the rose, the lily, the violet; and 
at the side (in the hedge), the nettle, the thistle 
and foxgloves. His garden also contains medicinal 
herbs, namely, mercury and the mallows, agrimony 
with nightshade and the marigold." Master John 
had also a special garden for pot-herbs and "other 
herbs good for men's bodies," i.e., medicinal herbs, 
and a fruit garden, or orchard, of cherries, pears, 
nuts, apples, quinces, figs, plums, and grapes. About 
the same time Guillaume de Lorris wrote his 
"Roman de la Rose"; and in this famous work of 
the Thirteenth Century there is a most beautiful de- 
scription of the garden of the period. U Am ant (the' 
Lover) while strolling on the banks of a river dis- 




FllliitMH CENJURV GARDEN WITHIN CA3TLE WALLS, FRENCH 



EVOLUTION OF THE GARDEN 9 

covered this enchanting spot, "full long and broad 
behind" high walls." It was the Garden of Delight^ 
or Pleasure, whose wife was Liesse, or Joy; and 
here they dwelt with the sweetest of companions. 
VAmant wandered about until he found a small 
wicket door in the wall, at which he knocked and 
gained admittance. When he entered he was 
charmed. Everything was so beautiful that it 
seemed to him a spiritual place, better even than 
Paradise could be. Now, walking down a little 
path, bordered with tnint and fennel, he reached 
the spot where Delight and his companions were 
dancing a carol to the song of Joy. L'Amant was 
invited to join the dance; and after it was finished 
he made a tour of the garden to see it all. And 
through his eyes we see it, too. 

The Garden of Delight was even and square, "as? 
long as it was large." It contained every knowni 
fruit-tree — peaches, plums, cherries, apples, and 
quinces, as well as figs, pomegranates, dates, 
almonds, chestnuts, and nutmegs. Tall pines, 
cypresses, and laurels formed screens and walls, of 
greenery; and many a "pair" of elms, maples, ashes, 
oaks, aspens, yews, and poplars kept out the sun by 
their interwoven branches rnd protected the green 
grass. And here deer browsed fearlessly and squir- 



lo THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

rels "in great plenty" were seen leaping from bough 
to bough. Conduits of water ran through the gar- 
den and the moisture made the grass as thick and 
rich as velvet and "the earth was as soft as a feather 
bed." And, moreover, the "earth was of such a 
grace" that it produced plenty of flowers, both win- 
ter and summer : 

There sprang the violet all new 
And fresh periwinkle rich of hue 
And jflowers yellow, white and red, 
Such plenty grew there, never in mead. 
Full joy was all the ground and quaint 
And powdered as men had it paint 
With many a fresh and sundry flower 
That casteth up full good savor. 

Myriads of birds were singing, too — larks, night- 
ingales, finches, thrushes, doves, and canaries, i 
UAmant wandered on until he came to a marvelous 
fountain — the Fountain of Love — under a pine- 
tree. 

Presently he was attracted to a beautiful rose- 
bush, full of buds and full-blown roses. One bud, 
sweeter and fresher than all the rest and set so 
proudly on its spray, fascinated him. As he ap- 
proached this flower, U Amour discharged five arrows 
into his heart. The bud, of course, was the woman 



EVOLUTION OF THE GARDEN 1 1 

he was destined to love and which, after many ad- 
ventures and trials, he was eventually to pluck and 
cherish. 

This fanciful old allegory made a strong appeal 
to the illustrators of the Thirteenth and later cen- 
turies; and many beautiful editions are prized by 
libraries and preserved in glass cases. The edition 
from which the illustration (Fifteenth Century) is 
taken is from the Harleian MS. owned by the British 
Museum. 

II 

The Garden of Delight 

The old trouveres did not hesitate to stop the 
flow of their stories to describe the delights and 
beauties of the gardens. Many romantic scenes are"**^ 
staged in the "Pleasance," to which lovers stole 
quietly through the tiny postern gate in the walls.- ~ 
When we remember what the feudal castle was, 
with its high, dark walls, its gloomy towers and 
loop-holes for windows, its cold floors, its secret 
hiding-places, and its general gloom, it is not sur- 
prising that the lords and ladies liked to escape into 
the garden. After the long, dreary winter what joy 
to see the trees burst into bloom and the tender 



12 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

flowers push their way through the sweet grass! 

Like the birds, the poets broke out into rapturous 

song, as, for instance, in Richard Cceur de Lion: 

Merry is in the time of May, 
Whenne f owlis synge in her lay ; 
Flowers on appyl trees and perye ; * 
Small fowlis - synge merye ; 
Ladyes strew their bowers 
With red roses and lily flowers ; 
Great joy is in grove and lake. 

In Chaucer's "Franklyn's Tale" Dorigen goes 

into her garden to try to divert herself in the absence 

of her husband : 

And this was on the sixte morne of May, 
Which May had painted with his softe shoures. 
This gardeyn full of leves and of flowers : 
And craft of mannes hand so curiously 
Arrayed had this gardeyn of such pris, 
As if it were the verray paradis. 

In the "Roman de Berte" Charles Martel dines in 
the garden, when the rose is in bloom — que la rose 
est fieurie — and in "La Mort de Garin" a big dinner- 
party is given in the garden. Naturally the garden 
was the place of all places for lovers. In "Blonde 
of Oxford" Blonde and Jean meet in the garden 
under a blossoming pear-tree, silvery in the blue 

'Pear. 
* Birds. 



EVOLUTION OF THE GARDEN 13 

moonlight, and in the "Roman of Maugis et la Belle 
Oriande" the hero and heroine "met in a garden 
to make merry and amuse themselves after they had 
dined; and it was the time for taking a little repose. 
It was in the month of May, the season when the 
birds sing and when all true lovers are thinking of 
their love." 

In many of the illuminated manuscripts of these 
delightful romans there are pictures of ladies gather- 
ing flowers in the garden, sitting on the sward, or on 
stone seats, weaving chaplets and garlands; and 
these little pictures are drawn and painted with such 
skill and beauty that we have no difficulty in 
visualizing what life was like in a garden six hun- 
dred years ago. 

So valued were these gardens — not only for their"- 
flowers but even more for the potential drugs, salves, 
unguents, perfumes, and ointments they held in leaf 
and petal, seed and root, in those days when every 
castle had to be its own apothecary storehouse — that 
the owner kept them locked and guarded the 
key. Song, story, and legend are full of incidents 
of the heroine's trouble in gaining possession of the 
key of the postern gate in order to meet at midnight 
her lover who adventurously scaled the high garden 
wall. The garden was indeed the happiest and the/ 



14 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

most romantic spot in the precincts of the feudal 
castle and the baronial manor-house. 

We do not have to depend entirely upon the 
trouveres and poets for a knowledge of Medieval 
flowers. A manuscript of the Fifteenth Century 
(British Museum) contains a list of plants consid- 
ered necessary for a garden. Here it is: violets, 
mallows, dandelions, mint, sage, parsley, golds,^ 
marjoram, fennel, caraway, red nettle, daisy, 
thyme, columbine, basil, rosemary, gyllofre," rue, 
chives, endive, red rose, poppy, cowslips of Jerusa- 
lem, saffron, lilies, and Roman peony. 

Herbs and flowers were classed together. Many 
were valued for culinary purposes and for medicinal 
purposes. The ladies of the castle and manor-house 
were learned in cookery and in the preparation of 
"simples" ; and they guarded, tended, and gathered 
the herbs with perhaps even more care than they 
gave to the flowers. Medieval pictures of ladies, in 
tall peaked head dresses, fluttering veils, and grace- 
ful, flowing robes, gathering herbs in their gardens, 
are abundant in the old illustrated manuscripts. 

^Marigolds. 
" Gillifiower. 



EVOLUTION OF THE GARDEN 15 

III 

The Italian Renaissance Garden 

It is but a step from this Medieval "Pleasance"\ 
to the Shakespeare garden. But before we try to \ 
picture what the Tudor gardens were like it will 
be worth our while to pause for a moment to con- 
sider the Renaissance garden of Italy on which the . 
gardens that Shakespeare knew and loved were \ 
modeled. No one is better qualified to speak of 
these than Vernon Lee: 

"One great charm of Renaissance gardens was 
the skillful manner in which Nature and Art were 
blended together. The formal design of the 
Giardino segreto agreed with the straight lines of 
the house, and the walls with their clipped hedges 
led on to the wilder freer growth of woodland and 
meadow, while the dense shade of the bosco supplied 
an effective contrast to the sunny spaces of lawn and 
flower-bed. The ancient practice of cutting box- 
trees into fantastic shapes, known to the Romans 
as the topiary art, was largely restored in the 
Fifteenth Century and became an essential part of 
Italian gardens. In that strange romance printed 
at the Aldine Press in 1499, the Hypernotomachia 1 



i6 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

of Francesco Colonna, Polyphilus and his beloved , 
are led through an enchanted garden where banquet- / 
houses, temples and statues stand in the midst of 
myrtle groves and labyrinths on the banks of a 
shining stream. The pages of this curious book are 
adorned with a profusion of wood-cuts by some 
Venetian engraver, representing pergolas, fountains, 
sunk parterres, pillared loggie^ clipped box and ilex- 
trees of every variety, which give a good idea of 
the garden artist then in vogue. 

"Boccaccio and the Italians more usually employ . 
the word orto^ which has lost its Latin signification, 
and is a place, as we learn from the context, planted 
with fruit-trees and potherbs, the sage which 
brought misfortune on poor Simona and the sweet 
basil which Lisabetta watered, as it grew out of 
Lorenzo's head, only with rosewater, or that of 
orange-flowers, or with her own tears. A friend of 
mine has painted a picture of another of Boccaccio's 
ladies, Madonna Dianora, visiting the garden which 
the enamored Ansaldo has made to bloom in Jan- 
uary by magic arts; a little picture full of the quaint 
lovely details of Dello's wedding-chests, the charm 
of roses and lilies, the flashing fountains and birds 
singing against a background of wintry trees, and 
snow-shrouded fields, dainty youths and damsels 




LOVERS IN THE CASTLE GARDEN, FIFTEENTH CENTURY MS. 




GARDEN OF DELIGHT, ROMAUNT OF THE ROSE, FIFTEENTH CENTURY 



EVOLUTION OF THE GARDEN 17 

treading their way among the flowers, looking like 
tulips and ranunculus themselves in their fur and 
brocade. But although in this story Boccaccio em- 
ploys the word giardino instead of orto^ I think we 
must imagine that magic flower garden rather as a 
corner of orchard connected with fields of wheat and 
olive below by the long tunnels of vine-trellis and 
dying away into them with the great tufts of laven- 
der and rosemary and fennel on the grassy bank 
under the cherry trees. This piece of terraced 
ground along which the water spurted from the 
dolphin's mouth, or the Siren's breasts — runs 
through walled channels, refreshing impartially vio- 
lets and salads, lilies and tall, flowering onions 
under the branches of the peach-tree and the pome- 
granate, to where, in the shade of the great pink 
oleander tufts, it pours out below into the big tank 
for the maids to rinse their linen in the evening and 
the peasants to fill their cans to water the bedded 
out tomatoes and the potted clove-pinks in the 
shadow of the house. 

"The Blessed Virgin's garden is like that where, 
as she prays in the cool of the evening, the gracious 
Gabriel flutters on to one knee (hushing the sound 
of his wings lest he startle her) through the pale 
green sky, the deep blue-green valley; and you may 



i8 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

still see in the Tuscan fields clumps of cypress, 
clipped wheel shape, which might mark the very 
spot." 

I may recall here that the early Italian and 
Flemish painters were fond of representing the 
Madonna and the Infant Jesus in a garden ; and thei 
garden that they pictured was always the familiar 
little enclosed garden of the period. The flowers 
that grew there were limited by the Church. Each 
flower had its significance : the rose and the pink both 
expressed divine love; the lily, purity; the violet, 
humility; the strawberry, fruit and blossom, for the 
fruit of the spirit and the good works of the right- 
eous; the clover, or trefoil, for the Trinity; and the 
columbine for the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit, 
because of its dove-shaped petals. 

The enclosed garden is ancient indeed. 

O garden enclosed — a garden of living waters 
i And flowing streams from Lebanon : 

i Awake O North Wind ; and come thou South ; 

'J. 

Blow upon my garden that the spices may thereof flow out! 
V So sang the esthetic Solomon. 

A garden enclosed, a garden of living waters, a 
garden of perfumes — these are the motives of the 
Indian gardens of the luxurious Mogul emperors, 
whose reigns coincide with Tudor times. 



EVOLUTION OF THE GARDEN 19 

Symbolism played an important part in Indian 
gardens. The beautiful garden of Babar (near 
Kabul) was called the Bagh-i-vafa — "The Garden 
of Fidelity." This has many points in common with 
the illustration of the "Romaunt of the Rose," par- 
ticularly the high walls. 

There is also great similarity with the gardens of 
Elizabethan days. The "pleached allies" and 
"knots" of the English gardens of Shakespeare's 
time find equivalents in the vine pergolas and geo- 
metrical parterres of the Mogul emperors; and the 
central platform of the Mogul gardens answered the 
same purpose as the banqueting-hall on the mound, 
which decorated nearly every English nobleman's 
garden. 

IV 

Bagh-i-vafa 

Babar's "Garden of Fidelity" was made in the 
year 1508. We see Babar personally superin- 
tending the laying out of the "four-field plot." 
Two gardeners hold the measuring line and the 
architect stands by with his plan. The square 
enclosure at the bottom of the garden (right) is the 
tank. The whole is bordered with orange and pome- 
granate trees. An embassy knocks at the gate, but 



20 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

Babar is too absorbed in his gardening to pay any 
attention to the guests. 

Fifteen years later Babar stole three days away 
from his campaign against the Afghans and visited 
his beautiful garden. "Next morning," he wrote in 
his "Memoirs," "I reached Bagh-i-vafa. It was the 
season when the garden was in all its glory. Its 
grass-plots were all covered with clover; its pome- 
granate trees were entirely of a beautiful yellow 
color. It was then the pomegranate season and 
pomegranates were hanging red on the trees. The 
orange-trees were green and cheerful, loaded with 
innumerable oranges; but the best oranges were not 
yet ripe. I never was so much pleased with the 
'Garden of Fidelity' as on this occasion." 

Several new ideas were introduced into English '| 
gardens in the first quarter of the Sixteenth Century. 
About 1525 the geometrical beds called "knots" 
came into fashion, also rails for beds, also mounds, 
or "mounts," and also arbors. Cardinal Wolsey had 
all these novelties in his garden at Hampton Court 
Palace. It was a marvelous garden, as any one who 
will read Cavendish may see for himself; but Henry 
VIII was not satisfied with it when he seized the 
haughty Cardinal's home in 1529. So four years 
later the King had an entirely new garden made at 




r^- 




")• 




"■^^ 


■j'j 




Jfll 


-*> 



*"^* 







EVOLUTION OF THE GARDEN 21 

Hampton Court (the Privy Garden is on the site 
now) with gravel paths, beds cut in the grass, and 
railed and raised mounds decorated with sun-dials. 
Over the rails roses clambered and bloomed and the 
center of each bed was adorned with a yew, juniper, 
or cypress-tree. Along the walls fruit-trees were 
planted — apples, pears, and damsons — and beneath 
them blossomed violets, primroses, sweet williams, 
gilliflowers, and other old favorites. 

Toward the end of his reign Henry VIII turned 
his attention to beautifying the grounds of Nonsuch 
Palace near Ewell in Surrey. These gardens were 
worthy of the magnificent buildings. A contem- 
porary wrote: "The Palace itself is so encompassed 
with parks full of deer, delicious gardens, groves 
ornamented with trellis-work, cabinets of verdure 
and walks so embowered with trees that it seems to 
be a place pitched upon by Pleasure herself to dwell 
in along with health." 

V 

Nezu Fad for Flowers 

An example of a typical Tudor estate, Beaufort 
House, Chelsea, later Buckingham House, is said tOj 
have been built by Sir Thomas More in 1521 and re- 



22 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

\ 
built in 1586 by Sir Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury, j 

who died in 1615. The flowers at this period were f 
the same for palace and cottage. Tudor gardens^ 
bloomed with acanthus, asphodel, auricula, ane- 
mone, amaranth, bachelor's buttons, cornflowers or 
"bottles," cowslips, daffodils, daisies, French broom 
(genista), gilliflowers (three varieties), hollyhock, 
iris, jasmine, lavender, lilies, lily-of-the-valley, 
marigold, narcissus (yellow and white), pansies or 
heartsease, peony, periwinkle, poppy, primrose, 
rocket, roses, rosemary, snapdragon, stock gilli- 
flowers, sweet william, wallflowers, winter cherry, 
violet, mint, marjoram, and other sweet-smelling 
herbs. / 

During "the great and spacious time" of Queen \ 
Elizabeth there was an enormous development in | 
gardens. The Queen was extremely fond of flowers ^ 
and she loved to wear them. It must have pleased 
her hugely when Spenser celebrated her as "Eliza, 
Queen of the Shepherds," and painted her portrait 
in one of the pretty enclosed gardens, seated among 
the fruit-trees, where the grass was sprinkled with 

flowers : 

See where she sits upon the grassy green, 

O seemly sight! 
Yclad in scarlet, like a Maiden Queen, 

And ermines white ; 



EVOLUTION OF THE GARDEN 23 

Upon her head a crimson coronet. 
With daffodils and damask roses set; 

Bay leaves between, 

And primeroses green. 
Embellish the sweet violet. 



So fond was the Queen of gardens that Sir Philip 
Sidney could think of no better way to please her 
than to arrange his masque of the "May Lady" so 
that it would surprise her when she was walking in 
the garden at Wanstead in Essex. Then, too, in 
1591, when visiting Cowdry, Elizabeth expressed a 
desire to dine in the garden. A table forty-eight / 
yards long was accordingly laid. 

The Tudor mansions were constantly growing in 
beauty. Changes and additions were made to some 
of them and many new palaces and manor-houses 
were erected. Architects — among them John 
Thorpe — and landscape gardeners now planned the 
pleasure-grounds to enhance the beauty of the man- 
sion they had created, adapting the ideas of the 
Italian Renaissance to the English taste. The 
Elizabethan garden in their hands became a setting 
for the house and it was laid out according to a 
plan that harmonized with the architecture and con- 
tinued the lines of the building. The form of the 
garden and the lay-out of the beds and walks were 



24 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

deemed of the greatest importance. Flowers, also, 
took a new place in general estimation. Adven- 
turous mariners constantly brought home new plants 
and bulbs and seeds from the East and lately dis- 
covered America ; merchants imported strange speci- 
mens from Turkey and Poland and far Cathay; and 
travelers on the Continent opened their eyes and 
secured unfamiliar curiosities and novelties. The 
cultivation of flowers became a regular fad. Lon- 
don merchants and wealthy noblemen considered it 
the proper thing to have a few "outlandish" flowers 
in their gardens; and they vied with one another to 
develop "sports" and new varieties and startling 
colors. 

Listen to what an amateur gardener, Williarn* 
Harrison, wrote in 1593: 

"If you look into our gardens annexed to our 
houses how wonderfully is their beauty increased, 
not only with flowers and variety of curious and 
costly workmanship, but also with rare and medicin- 
able herbs sought up in the land within these forty 
years. How Art also helpeth Nature in the daily 
coloring, doubling and enlarging the proportion of 
one's flowers it is incredible to report, for so curious 
and cunning are our gardeners now in these days 
that they presume to do in manner what they list 



EVOLUTION OF THE GARDEN 25 

with Nature and moderate her course in things as 
if they were her superiors. It is a world also to see 
how many strange herbs, plants and annual fruits 
are daily brought unto us from the Indies, Americas, 
Taprobane, Canary Isles and all parts of the world. 
"For mine own part, good reader, let me boast a 
little of my garden, which is but small, and the 
whole area thereof little above 300 foot of ground, 
and yet, such hath been my good luck in purchase 
of the variety of simples, that, notwithstanding my 
small ability, there are very near 300 of one sort 
and another contained therein, no one of them being 
common or usually to be had. If, therefore, my 
little plat void of all cost of keeping be so well fur- 
nished, what shall we think of those of Hampton 
Court, Nonesuch, Theobald's, Cobham Garden and 
sundrie others appertaining to divers citizens of Lon- 
don whom I could particularly name*?" 

VI 

Tudor Gardens 

Several men of the New Learning, who, like \ 
Shakespeare, lived into the reign of James I, ad- 
vanced many steps beyond the botanists of the early 
days of Queen Elizabeth. The old Herbals — the 



26 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

"Great Herbal," from the French (1516) and the 
"Herbals" published by William Turner, Dean of 
Wells, who had a garden of his own at Kew, treat 
of flowers chiefly with regard to their properties and 
medical uses. 

The Renaissance did indeed "paint the lily" and 
"throw a perfume on the violet"; 'for the New Age 
brought recognition of their esthetic qualities and 
taught scholastic minds that flowers had beauty and 
perfume and character as well as utilitarian quali- 
ties. Elizabeth as Queen had very different gardens 
to walk in than the little one in the Tower of Lon- 
don in which she took exercise as a young Princess 
in 1564. 

Let us look at some of them. First, that of Rich- 
mond Palace. Here the garden was surrounded by 
a^ brick wall and in the center was "a round knot 
divided into four quarters," with a yew-tree in the 
center. Sixty-two fruit-trees were trained on the 
wall. 

This seems to have been of the old type — the 
orchard-garden, where a few* old favorite flowers 
bloomed under the trees and in the central "knot," 
or bed. In the Queen's locked garden at Havering- 
atte-Bower trees, grass, and sweet herbs seem to have 
been more conspicuous than the flowers. The 



EVOLUTION OF THE GARDEN 27 

Queen's gardens seem to have been overshadowed by 
those of her subjects. One of the most celebrated 
belonged to Lord Burleigh, and was known as Theo- 
bald's. Paul Hentzner, a German traveler who 
visited England in 1598, went to see this garden 
the very day that Burleigh was buried. 

He described it as follows : 

"We left London in a coach in order to see the 
remarkable places in its neighborhood. The first 
was Theobald's, belonging to Lord Burleigh, the 
Treasurer. In the Gallery was painted the 
genealogy of the Kings of England. From this 
place one goes into the garden, encompassed with a 
moat full of water, large enough for one to have the 
pleasure of going in a boat and rowing between the 
shrubs. Here are great variety of trees and plants, 
labyrinths made with a great deal of labor, a jet 
d'eau with its basin of white marble and columns 
and pyramids of wood and other materials up and 
down the garden. After seeing these, we were led 
by the gardener into the summer-house, in the lower 
part of which, built semicircularly, are the twelve 
Roman Emperors in white marble and a table of 
touchstone. The upper part of it is set round with 
cisterns of lead into which the water is conveyed 
through pipes so that fish may be kept in them and 



28 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

in summer time they are very convenient for bath- 
ing. In another room for entertainment near this, 
and joined to it by a little bridge, was an oval table 
of red marble." 

Another and accurate picture of a stately Eliza- 
bethan garden is by a most competent authority, Sir 
Philip Sidney (1554-86), who had a superb garden 
of his own in Kent. In "Arcadia" we read: 

"Kalander one afternoon led him abroad to a 
well-arrayed ground he had behind his house which 
he thought to show him before his going, as the place 
himself more than in any other, delighted in. The 
backside of the house was neither field, garden, nor 
orchard; or, rather, it was both field, garden and 
orchard: for as soon as the descending of the stairs 
had delivered they came into a place curiously set 
with trees of the most taste-pleasing fruits; but 
scarcely had they taken that into their consideration 
but that they were suddenly stept into a delicate 
green; on each side of the green a thicket, and be- 
hind the thickets again new beds of flowers which 
being under the trees, the trees were to them a 
pavilion, and they to the trees a mosaical floor, so 
that it seemed that Art therein would needs be de- 
lightful by counterfeiting his enemy. Error, and 
making order in confusion. In the midst of all the 



EVOLUTION OF THE GARDEN 29 

place was a fair pond, whose shaking crystal was a 
perfect mirror to all the other beauties, so that it 
bare show of two gardens ; one in deed and the other 
in shadows; and in one of the thickets was a fine 
fountain." 

VII 
Garden Pleasures 

There were many such splendid gardens. Shake- ; 
speare was familiar, of course, with those of War-r 
wickshire, including the superb examples at Kenil- 
worth, and with those in the vicinity of London. 

The Elizabethans used their gardens in many 
ways. They took recreation in them in winter and 
summer, and enjoyed the perfume and colors of 
their flowers with an intensity of delight and ap- 
preciation barely found to-day. In their gardens 
the serioUs and the frivolous walked and talked, and 
here they were frequently served with refreshments. 

It was also a fashion to use the garden as a set- 
ting for masques and surprises, such as those Leices- 
ter planned on a grand scale to please Queen Eliza- 
beth at Kenilworth. Several of Ben Jonson's enter- 
tainments were arranged for performance on xh^*' 
terrace opening from house to garden. 

By looking into that mirror of the period, 



30 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

"Euphues and His England," by John Lyly (1554- 
1606), we can see two charming ladies in ruffs ahd 
farthingales and a gallant in rich doublet and 
plumed hat walking in a garden, and we gain an 
idea of the kind of "garden talk" that was comme 
il faut: 

"One of the ladies, who delighted much in mirth, 
seeing Philautus behold Camilla so steadfastly, said 
unto him : 'Gentleman, what flower do you like best 
in all this border^ Here be fair Roses, sweet Vio- 
lets, fragrant Primroses ; here be Gilliflowers, Carna- 
tions, Sops-in-Wine, Sweet Johns, and what may 
either please you for sight, or delight you with 
savor. Loth we are you should have a posie of all, 
yet willing to give you one, not that which shall 
look best but such a one as you shall like best.' " 

What could Philautus do but bow gallantly and 
say: "Of all flowers, I love a fair woman." 



'THE CURIOUS KNOTTED GARDEN" 



Flower Lovers and Herbalists 

THE Elizabethan flower garden as an inde- \ 
pendent garden came into existehce about 
1595. It was largely the creation of John 
Parkinson (1567-1650), who seems to have been the 
first person to insist that flowers were worthy of 
cultivation for their beauty quite apart from their 
value as medicinal herbs. Parkinson was also the 
first to make of equal importance the four enclosures 
of the period: (1) the garden of pleasant flowers; 
(2) the kitchen garden (herbs and roots); (3) the 
simples (medicinal) ; and (4) the orchard. / 

One would hardly expect to find such esthetic 
appreciation of flowers from Parkinson, because he 
was an apothecary, with a professional attitude 
toward plants; and our ideas of an Elizabethan 
apothecary picture a dusty seller of narcotics and 
"drams of poison," like the old man to whom Romeo 
and Juliet repaired. 

31 



32 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

John Parkinson was of a different type. Our 
portrait illustration depicts him, wearing a stylish 
Genoa velvet doublet with lace ruff and cuffs, a 
man who could apparently hold his own in any com- 
pany of courtiers and men of fashion. Parkinson 
knew a great many distinguished persons and enter- 
tained visitors at his nurseries, where he must have 
held them spellbound (if he talked as well as he 
wrote) while he explained the beauties of a new 
yellow gilliflower, the latest new scarlet martagon 
lily, or the flower that he so proudly holds in his 
hand — "the orange-color Nonesuch." 

Parkinson's talents were recognized at court, for 
he was appointed "Apothecary to James I," He had 
a garden of his own at Long Acre, which he culti- 
vated with enthusiasm, raising new varieties of well- 
kriown flowers and tending with care new specimens 
of foreign importations and exotics — "outlandish 
flowers" they were called in Shakespeare's day — 
and, finally, writing about his floral pets with great 
knowledge, keen observation, poetic insight, and 
quaint charm. His great book, "Paradisi in Sole; 
Paradisus Terrestris," appeared in London in 1629, 
the most original book of botany of the period and 
the most complete English treatise until Ray came. 

Although published thirteen years after Shake- 




JOHN GERARD 




PARKINSON AND LOBEL 



"THE CURIOUS KNOTTED GARDEN" 33 

speare's death, Parkinson's book describes exactly the 
style of gardens and the variety of flowers that were 
familiar to Shakespeare; and to this book we may 
go with confidence to learn more intimately the 
aspect of what we may call the Shakespeare garden.. 
In it we learn to our surprise that horticulture in the 
late Tudor and early Stuart days was not in the 
simple state that it is generally supposed to have 
been in. There were fliower fanciers in and near 
London — and indeed throughout England — and 
there were expert gardeners and florists. 

Parkinson was very friendly with the other Lon- 
don flower growers of whom he speaks cordially in 
his book and with never the least shadow of jealousy. 
He frequently mentions visiting the gardens of 
Gerard, Nicholas Leate, and Ralph Tuggy (or 
Tuggie). __^^ 

Everybody has heard of Gerard's "Herbal or \ 
General Historic of Plants," published in 1597, for | ^ 
it is one of the most famous ancient books on flowers, v 
A contemporary botanist said that "Gerard exceeded 
most, if not all of his time, in his care, industry and 
skill in raising, increasing, and preserving plants." 
For twenty years Gerard was superintendent of 
Lord Burleigh's famous gardens — one of which was 
in the Strand, London, and the other at Theobald's 



34 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

in Hertfordshire. Gerard also had a garden of his 
own at Holborn (then a suburb of London), where 
he raised many rare specimens and tried many ex- 
periments. He employed a collector, William Mar- 
shall, to travel in the Levant for new plants. Gerard 
(1545-1607) was a physician, as well as a practical 
gardener; but, although he possessed great knowl- 
edge, he does not appear to have had the esthetic 
appreciation of flowers that Parkinson had in such 
great measure. His name is also written Gerade. 
Gerard's "Herbal" was not the first. Horticul- 
turists could consult the "Grete Herbal," first 
printed by Peter Treveris in 1516; Fitzherbert, 
"Husbandry" (1523); Walter Gary, "Herbal" 
(1525) ; a translation of Macer's "Herbal" (1530) ; 
the "Herbal" by Dodoens, published in Antwerp 
in 1544; William Turner's "The Names of Herbs 
in Greke, Latin, Englishe, Duche and Frenche," etc. 
(1548), reprinted by the English Dialect Society 
(1881); Thomas Tusser's "Five Pointes of Good 
Husbandry," etc. (1573), reprinted by the English 
Dialect Society (1878); Didym.us Mountain's 
(Thomas Hill) "A Most Brief and Pleasant Trea- 
tise Teaching How to Sow and Set a Garden" 
(1563), "The Proffitable Art of Gardening" 
(1568), and "The Gardener's Labyrinth" (1577); 



"THE CURIOUS KNOTTED GARDEN" 35 

Barnaby Googe's "Four Books of Husbandry," col- 
lected by M. Conradus Heresbachius, "Newly Eng- 
lished and increased by Barnaby Googe" (i577)> 
William Lawson's "A New Orchard and Garden" 
(1618); Francis Bacon's "Essay on Gardening" 
(1625); and John Parkinson's "Paradisi in Sole, 
Paradisus Terrestris" (1629). 

Ralph Tuggie, or Tuggy, so often spoken of by 
Parkinson, had a fine show garden at Westminster, 
where he specialized in carnations and gilliflowers. 
After his death his widow, "Mistress Tuggie," kept 
it up. 

Another flower enthusiast was the Earl of Salis- \ 
bury, who placed his splendid garden at Hatfield 
under the care of John Tradescant, the first of a 
noted family of horticulturists. John Tradescant 
also had a garden of his own in South Lambeth, "the 
finest in England" every one called it. Here 
Tradescant introduced the acacia; the lilac, called 
in those days the "Blue Pipe Flower"; and, if we 
may believe Parkinson, the pomegranate. Among 
other novelties that attracted visitors to this show 
garden he had the "Sable Flag," known also as the 
"Marvel of Peru." 

Lord Zouche was another horticulturist of note. \ 
His fine garden at Hackney contained plants that 



36 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

he himself collected on his travels in Austria, Italy, 
and Spain. Lord Zouche gave his garden into the 
keeping of the distinguished Mathias de Lobel, a 
famous physician and botanist of Antwerp and 
Delft. Lobel was made botanist to James I and 
had a great influence upon flower culture in England. 
For him the Lobelia was named — an early instance 
of naming plants for a person and breaking away 
from the quaint descriptive names for flowers. 

Elizabethan gardens owed much to Nicholas ', 
Leate, or Lete, a London merchant who about 1590 
became a member of the Levant Company. As a 
leading merchant in the trade with Turkey and 
discharging in connection with commercial enter- 
prise the duties of a semi-political character, Leate 
became wealthy and was thus able to indulge his 
taste for flowers and anything else he pleased. He 
had a superb garden and employed collectors to hunt 
for specimens in Turkey and Syria. His "servant at 
Aleppo" sent many new flowers to London, such as ^ 
tulips, certain kinds of lilies, — the martagon, or 
Turk's Cap, for instance, — irises, the Crown-Im- 
perial, and many new anemones, or windflowers. 
The latter became the rage, foreshadowing the tulip- 
mania of later years. Nicholas Leate also imported 
the yellow Sops-in-Wine, a famous carnation from 




NICHOLAS LEATE 



"THE CURIOUS KNOTTED GARDEN" 37 

Poland, which had never been heard of before in 
England, and the beautiful double yellow rose from 
Constantinople. Leate was a member of the Wor- 
shipful Company of Ironmongers, London, and 
Master of it in 1616, 1626, and 1627, and his por- 
trait, given here, said to be by Daniel Mytens, 
hung in Ironmongers' Hall in London until this 
famous building was destroyed by a German bomb 
in 1917. Leate died in 1630. 

Leate, being a most enthusiastic flower fancier and 
garden lover, not only imported rare specimens but 
tried many experiments. Indeed we are surprised 
in going through old garden manuals of Shake- 
spearean days to see how many and how varied were 
the attempts to produce "sports" and novelties. We 
read of grafting a rosebush and placing musk in the 
cleft in an effort to produce musk-roses; recipes for 
changing the color of flowers; methods for produc- 
ing double flowers ; and instructions for grafting and 
pruning plants, sowing seeds, and plucking flowers 
during the increase, or waning, of the moon. 

These professional florists and gentlemen 
amateurs valued their rare specimens from foreign 
countries as they valued their emeralds from Peru, 
Oriental pearls from Ceylon and rubies from India. 
Parkinson says very earnestly : 



38 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

"Our English gardeners are all, or most of them, 
ignorant in the ordering of their outlandish ^ flowers, 
as not being trained to know them. And I do wish 
all gentlemen and gentlewomen whom it may con- 
cern for their own good, to be as careful whom they 
trust with the planting and replanting of their fine 
flowers as they would be with so many jewels; for 
the roots of many of them, being small and of great 
value, may soon be conveyed away and a clean, fair 
tale told that such a root is rotten, or perished in the 
ground, if none be seen where it should be ; or else 
that the flower hath changed in color when it had 
been taken away, or a counterfeit one had been put 
in the place thereof; and thus many have been de- 
ceived of their daintiest flowers, without remedy or 
knowledge of the defect." 

-The influence of the Italian Renaissance upon 
the Elizabethan garden has already been shown 
(see page 15), but the importance of this may be 
appropriately recalled here in the following extract 
from Bloom: 

"The Wars of the Roses gave little time for gar- / 
dening ; and when matters were settled and the edu-' 
cational movements which marked the dawn of the 
Renaissance began, the gardens once again, after a 

* Exotic. 



'THE CURIOUS KNOTTED GARDEN" 39 

break of more than a thousand years, went back to 
classical models, as interpreted by the Italian school 
of the time. Thus the gardens of the Palace of 
Nonesuch (1529) and Theobald's (1560) showed 
all the new ideas: flower-beds edged with low trel- 
lises, topiary work of cut box and yew, whereby the 
natural growth of the trees was trained into figures 
of birds and animals and especially of peacocks; 
while here and there mounts were thrown up against 
the orchard or garden wall, ascended by flights of 
steps and crowned with arbors, while sometimes the 
view obtained in this manner was deemed insuffi- 
cient and trellised galleries extended the whole 
length of the garden. In 1573 the gardens of Kenil- 
worth, which Shakespeare almost certainly /isited, 
had a terrace walk twelve feet in width and raised 
ten feet above the garden, terminating at either end 
in arbors redolent with sweetbrier and flowers. Be- 
neath these again was a garden of an acre or more 
in size divided into four quarters by sanded walks 
and having in the center of each plot an obelisk of 
red porphyry with a ball at the top. These were 
planted with apple, pear and cherry while in the 
center was a fountain of white marble." 



40 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

II 

The Elizabethan Garden 

The Elizabethan garden was usually four-square, 
bordered all around by hedges and intersected by 
paths. There was an outer hedge that enclosed the 
entire garden and this was a tall and thick hedge 
made of privet, sweetbrier, and white thorn inter- 
mingled with roses. Sometimes, however, this outer 
hedge was of holly. Again some people preferred 
to enclose their garden by a wall of brick or stone. 
On the side facing the house the gate was placed. 
In stately gardens the gate was of elaborately ^ 
wrought iron hung between stone or brick pillars on f 
the top of which stone vases, or urns, held brightly 
blooming flowers and drooping vines. In simple 
gardens the entrance was a plain wooden door, 
painted and set into the wall or hedge like the quaint 
little doors we see in England to-day and represented 
in Kate Greenaway's pictures that show us how the 
style persists even to the present time. 

Stately gardens were usually approached from a 
terrace running along the line of the house and com- 
manding a view of the garden, to which broad flights 
of steps led. Thence extended the principal walks, 



"THE CURIOUS KNOTTED GARDEN" 41 

called "forthrights," in straight lines at right angles 
to the terrace and intersected by other walks parallel 
with the terrace. The lay-out of the garden, there- 
fore, corresponded with the ground-plan of the man- 
sion. The squares formed naturally by the intersec- 
tion of the "forthrights" and other walks were filled 
with curious beds of geometrical patterns that were 
known as "knots"; mazes, or labyrinths; orchards; 
or plain grass-plots. Sometimes all of the spaces or 
squares were devoted to "knots." These ornamental 
flower-beds were edged with box, thrift, or thyme 
and were surrounded with tiny walks made of gravel 
or colored sand, walks arranged around the beds so 
that the garden lovers might view the flowers at 
close range and pick them easily. 

It will be remembered that in "Love's Labour's ' 
Lost" Shakespeare speaks of "the curious knotted 
garden." There are innumerable designs for these 
"knots" in the old Elizabethan garden-books, repre- 
senting the simple squares, triangles, and rhomboids 
as well as the most intricate scrolls, and complicated 
interlacings of Renaissance design that resemble the 
motives on carved furniture, designs for textiles and 
ornamental leather- work (known as strap- work, or 
cuirs). Yet these many hundreds of designs were 
not sufficient, for the amateur as well as the profes- 



42 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

sional gardener often invented his own garden 
"knots." 

Where the inner paths intersected, a fountain or 
a statue or some other ornament was frequently 
placed. Sometimes, too, vases, or urns, of stone or 
lead, were arranged about the garden in formal style 
inspired by the taste of Italy. Sometimes, also, 
large Oriental or stone jars were placed in con- 
spicuous spots, and these were not only intended for 
decoration but served as receptacles for water. 

There were four principles that were observed in 
all stately Elizabethan gardens. The first was to 
lay out the garden in accordance with the architec- 
ture of the house in long terraces and paths of right 
lines, or "forthrights," to harmonize with the 
rectangular lines of the Tudor buildings, yet at the 
same time to break up the monotony of the straight 
lines with beds of intricate patterns, just as in the 
case of architecture bay-windows, clustered and 
twisted chimneys, intricate tracery, mullioned win- 
dows, and ornamental gables relieved the straight 
lines of the building. 

The second principle was to plant the beds with 
mixed flowers and to let the colors intermingle and 
blend in such a way as to produce a mosaic of rich, 



"THE CURIOUS KNOTTED GARDEN" 43 

indeterminate color, ever new and ever varying as 
the flowers of the different seasons succeeded each 
other. 

The third principle was to produce a garden of 
flowers and shrubs for all seasons, even winter, that 
would tempt the owner to take pleasure and exer- 
cise there, where he might find recreation, literally 
re-creation of mind and body, and become freshened 
in spirit and renewed in health. 

The fourth principle was to produce a garden 
that would give delight to the sense of smell as well 
as to the sense of vision — an idea no longer sought 
for by gardeners. 

Hence it was just as important, and infinitely 
more subtle, to mingle the perfumes of flowers while 
growing so that the air would be deliciously scented 
by a combination of harmonizing odors as to mingle 
the perfumes of flowers plucked for a nosegay, or 
Tussie-mussie, as the Elizabethans sometimes 
quaintly called it. 

Like all cultivated Elizabethans, Shakespeare ap- I 
preciated the delicious fragrance of flowers blooming 
in the garden when the soft breeze is stirring their 
leaves and petals. There was but one thing to which 
this subtle perfume might be compared and that was 



44 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

ethereal and mysterious music. For example, the 
elegant Duke in "Twelfth Night," reclining on his 
divan and listening to music, commands: 

That strain again! It had a dying fall. 
O it came o'er my ear like the sweet south 
That breathes upon a bank of violets 
Stealing and giving odor. 

Lord Bacon also associated the scent of delicate 
flowers with music. He writes: "And because the 
breath of flowers is far sweeter in the air (whence 
it comes and goes like the warbling of music) than 
in the hand, therefore nothing is more fit for de- 
light than to know what be the flowers and plants 
that do best perfume the air. Roses, damask, and 
red, are fast flowers of their smells, so that you may 
walk by a whole row of them and find nothing of 
their sweetness, yea though it be in a morning's dew. 
Bays, likewise, yield no smell as they grow, rose- 
mary little, nor sweet marjoram. That which above 
all others yields the sweetest smell in the air is the 
violet, especially the white double violet, which 
comes twice a year — about the middle of April and 
about Bartholomew-tide. Next to that is the musk- 
rose, then the strawberry leaves dying, which yield 
a most excellent cordial smell, then the flower of 
the vines, it is a little dust, like the dust of a bent, 



"THE CURIOUS KNOTTED GARDEN" 45 

which grows upon the cluster in the first coming 
forth; then sweetbrier, then wall-flowers, which are 
very delightful to be set under a parlor or lower 
chamber window; then pinks and gilliflowers; then 
the flowers of the lime-tree; then the honeysuckles, 
so they be somewhat afar off; of bean flowers, I 
speak not, because they are field flowers. But those 
which perfume the air most delightfully not passed 
by as the rest but being trodden upon and crushed 
are three: burnet, wild thyme and water-mints. 
Therefore, you are to set whole alleys of them to 
have the pleasure when you walk or tread." 

Shakespeare very nearly follows Bacon's order 
of perfume values in his selection of flowers to adorn 
the beautiful spot in the wood where Titania sleeps. 
Oberon describes it: 

I know a bank where the wild thyme blows, 
Where oxHps and the nodding violet grows, 
Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine, 
With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine. 
There sleeps Titania sometime of the night, 
Lulled in these flowers with dances and delight. 

Fairies were thought to be particularly fond of 
thyme; and it is for this reason that Shakespeare 
carpeted the bank with this sweet herb. Moreover, 
as we have just seen, Bacon tells us that thyme is 



46 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

one of those plants which are particularly delightful 
if trodden upon and crushed. Shakespeare accord- 
ingly knew that the pressure of the Fairy Queen's 
little body upon the thyme would cause it to yield a 
delicious perfume. 

The Elizabethans, much more sensitive to per- 
fume than we are to-day, appreciated the scent of 
what we consider lowly flowers. They did not hesi- 
tate to place a sprig of rosemary in a nosegay of 
choice flowers. They loved thyme, lavender, 
marjoram, mints, balm, and camomile, thinking that 
these herbs refreshed the head, stimulated the 
memory, and were antidotes against the plague. 

The flowers in the "knots" were perennials, 
planted so as to gain uniformity of height ; and those 
that had affinity for one another were placed side 
by side. No attempt was made to group them ; and 
no attempt was made to get masses of separate color, 
what Locker-Lampson calls "a mist of blue in the 
beds, a blaze of red in the celadon jars" and what 
we try for to-day. On the contrary, the Elizabethan 
gardener's idea was to mix and blend the flowers 
into a combination of varied hues that melted into 
one another as the hues of a rainbow blend and in 
such a way that at a distance no one could possibly 
tell what flowers produced this effect. This must 



"THE CURIOUS KNOTTED GARDEN" 47 

have required much study on the part of the gar- 
deners, who kept pace with the seasons and always 
had their beds in bloom. Sir Henry Wotton, Am- 
bassador to Venice in the reign of James I, and 
author of the "Elements of Architecture," but far 
better known by his lovely verse to Elizabeth of 
Bohemia beginning, "You meaner beauties of the 
night," was an ardent flower lover. He was greatly 
impressed by what he called "a delicate curiosity 
in the way of color" : 

"Namely in the Garden of Sir Henry Fanshaw 
at his seat in Ware Park, where I well remember he 
did so precisely examine the tinctures and seasons 
of his flowers that in their settings^ the inwardest 
of which that were to come up at the same time, 
should be always a little darker than the outmost^ 
and so serve them for a kind of gentle shadow^ like 
a piece not of Nature but of Art^ 

Browne also gives a splendid idea of the color 
effect of the garden beds of this period: 

As in a rainbow's many color'd hue, 
Here we see watchet deepen'd with a blue ; 
There a dark tawny, with a purple mix'd; 
Yellow and flame, with streaks of green betwixt; 
A bloody stream into a blushing run, 
And ends still with the color which begun; 
Drawing the deeper to a lighter strain. 



48 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

Bringing the lightest to the deepest again ; 
With such rare art each mingled with his fellow, 
The blue with watchet, green and red with yellow ; 
Like to the changes which we daily see 
Around the dove's neck with variety; 
Where none can say (though he it strict attends), 
Here one begins and there another ends. 
Using such cunning as they did dispose 
The ruddy Piony with the lighter Rose, 
The Monkshood with the Buglos, and entwine 
The white, the blue, the flesh-like Columbine 
With Pinks, Sweet- Williams ; that, far off, the eye 
Could not the manner of their mixture spy. 

By the side of the showy and stately flowers, 
as well as in kitchen gardens, were grown the 
"herbs of grace" for culinary purposes and the 
medicinal herbs for "drams of poison." Rosemary 
— "the cheerful Rosemary," Spenser calls it — was 
trained over arbors and permitted to run over 
mounds and banks as it pleased. Sir Thomas More 
allowed it to run all over his garden because the 
bees loved it and because it was the herb sacred to 
remembrance and friendship. I 

In every garden the arbor was conspicuous. Some- I 
times it was a handsome little pavilion or summer-^; 
house; sometimes it was set into the hedge; some- 
times it was cut out of the hedge in fantastic topiary 
work; sometimes it was made of lattice work; and 



"THE CURIOUS KNOTTED GARDEN" 49 

sometimes it was formed of upright or horizontal 
poles, over which roses, honeysuckle, or clematis 
(named also Lady's Bower because of this use) were 
trained. Whatever the framework was, plain or 
ornate, mattered but little; it was the creeper that 
counted, the trailing vines that gave character to 
the arbor, that gave delight to those who sought the 
arbor to rest during their stroll through the gardens, 
or to indulge in a pleasant chat, or delightful flirta- 
tion. Shakespeare's arbor for Titania 

Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine, >^ 
With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine, 

was not unusual. Nor was that retreat where saucy 

Beatrice was lured to hear the whisperings of Hero 

regarding Benedick's interest in her. It was a 

pavilion 

Where honeysuckles ripened by the sun 
Forbid the sun to enter. 

Luxuriant and delicious was this bower with the 
flowers hot and sweet in the bright sunshine. 

Eglantine was, perhaps, the favorite climber for 

arbors and bowers. Browne speaks of 

An arbor shadow'd with a vine 
Mixed with rosemary and with eglantine. 

Barnfield, in "The Affectionate Shepherd," 
pleads : 



50 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

I would make cabinets for thee, my love, 
Sweet-smelling arbors made of eglantine. 

And in Spenser's "Bower of Bliss" : 

Art, striving to compare 
With Nature, did an arbor green dispread 
Framed of wanton ivy, flow'ring fair. 
Through which the fragrant eglantine did spread 
His prickling arms, entrayl'd with roses red. 
Which dainty odors round about them threw; 
And all within with flowers was garnished, 
That when Zephyrus amongst them blew 
Did breathe out bounteous smells and painted odors 
shew. 

A beautiful method of obtaining shady walks was 
to make a kind of continuous arbor or arcade of 
trees, trellises, and vines. This arcade was called 
poetically the "pleached alley." ^ For the trees, 
willows, limes (lindens), and maples were used, and 
the vines were eglantine and other roses, honeysuckle 
(woodbine), clematis, rosemary, and grapevines. 

Another feature of the garden was the maze, or 

^Pleaching means trimming the small branches and foliage of 
trees, or bushes, to bring them to a regular shape. Certain trees 
only are submissive to this treatment — holly, box, yew privet, 
whitethorn, hornbeam, linden, etc., to make arbors, hedges, bowers, 
colonnades and all cut-work. 

"Plashing is the half-cutting, or dividing of the quick growth 
almost to the outward bark and then laying it orderly in a slope 
manner as you see a cunning hedger lay a dead hedge and then 
with the smaller and more pliant branches to wreath and bind 
in the tops." Markham, "The County Farm" (London, 1616). 



"THE CURIOUS KNOTTED GARDEN" ?i 

labyrinth. It was a favorite diversion for a visitor 
to puzzle his way through the green walls, breast 
high, to the center; and the owner took delight in 
watching the mistakes of his friend and was always 
ready to give him the clue. When James I on his 
"Southern Progress" in 1603 visited the magnificent 
garden known as Theobald's and belonging to Lord 
Burleigh, where we have already seen ^ Gerard was 
the horticulturist, the King went into the labyrinth 
of the garden "where he re-created himself in the 
meanders compact of bays, rosemary and the like, 
overshadowing his walk." 

The labyrinth, or maze, was a fad of the day. It 
still exists in many English gardens that date from 
Elizabethan times and is a feature of many more 
recent gardens. Perhaps of all mazes the one at 
Hampton Court Palace is the most famous. 

The orchard was another feature of the Eliza- 1 
bethan garden. It was the custom for gentlemen f 
to retire after dinner (which took place at eleven 
o'clock in the morning) to the garden arbor, or 
to the orchard, to partake of the "banquet" or 
dessert. Thus Shallow addressing Falstaff after 
dinner exclaims: 

"Nay, you shall see mine orchard, where, in an 

*Page 33. 



52 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

arbor, we will eat a last year's pippin of my own 
grafting with a dish of carraways and so forth." ^ 

The uses of the Elizabethan garden were many: 
to walk in, to sit in, to dream in. Here the courtier, 
poet, merchant, or country squire found refreshment 
for his mind and recreation for his body. The gar- { 
den was also intended to supply flowers for nose- 
gays, house decoration, and the decoration of the 
church. Sweet-smelling herbs and rushes were 
strewn upon the floor as we know by Grumio^s order 
for Petruchio's homecoming in 'The Taming of the 
Shrew." One of Queen Elizabeth's Maids ofj 
Honor had a fixed salary for keeping fresh flowers' 
always in readiness. The office of "herb-strewer to 
her Majesty the Queen" was continued as late as 
1713, through the reign of Anne and almost into 
that of George I. 

The houses were very fragrant with flowers in 
pots and vases as well as with the rushes on the floor. 
Flowers were therefore very important features in 
house decoration. A Dutch traveler. Dr. Leminius, 
who visited England in 1560, was much struck by 
this and wrote : 

"Their chambers and parlors strewed over with 
sweet herbs refreshed me; their nosegays finely in- 

'"King Henry IV"; Part II, Act V, Scene III. 



"THE CURIOUS KNOTTED GARDEN" 53 

termingled with sundry sorts of fragrant flowers in 
their bed-chambers and private rooms with comfort- 
able smell cheered me up and entirely delighted all 
my senses." 

We have only to look at contemporary portraits 
to see how essential flowers were in daily life. For 
instance, Holbein's "George Gisze," a London mer- 
chant, painted in 1523, has a vase of choice carna- 
tions beside him on the table filled with scales, 
weights, and business paraphernalia. 

The Elizabethan lady was just as learned in the 
medicinal properties of flowers and herbs as her 
Medieval ancestor. She regarded her garden as a 
place of delight and at the same time as of the 
greatest importance in the economic management 
of the household. 

"The housewife was the great ally of the doctor: 
in her still-room the lady with the ruff and farthin- 
gale was ever busy with the preparation of cordials, 
cooling waters, conserves of roses, spirits of herbs 
and juleps for calentures and fevers. All the herbs 
and flowers of the field and garden passed through 
her fair white hands. Poppy-water was good for 
weak stomachs; mint and rue-water was efficacious 
for the head and brain; and even walnuts yielded 
a cordial. Then there was cinnamon water and the 



54 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

essence of cloves, gilliflower and lemon water, sweet 
marjoram water and the spirit of ambergris. 

"These were the Elizabethan lady's severer toils, 
besides acres of tapestry she had always on hand. 
Her more playful hours were devoted to the manu- 
facture of casselettes, month pastilles, sweet waters, 
odoriferant balls and scented gums for her husband's 
pipe (God bless her!) and there were balsams and 
electuaries for him to take to camp, if he were a 
soldier fighting in Ireland or in the Low Countries, 
and wound-drinks if he was a companion of 
Frobisher and bound against the Spaniard, or the 
Indian pearl-diver of the Pacific. She had a specific 
which was of exceeding virtue in all swooning of 
the head, decaying of the spirits, also in all pains 
and numbness of joints and coming of cold. 

"That wonderful still-room contains not only 
dried herbs and drugs, but gums, spices, ambergris, 
storax and cedar-bark, civet and dried flowers and 
roots. In that bowl angelica, carduus benedictus 
(Holy Thistle), betony, juniper-berries and worm- 
wood are steeping to make a cordial-water for the 
young son about to travel; and yonder is oil of 
cloves, oil of nutmegs, oil of cinnamon, sugar, am- 
begris and musk, all mingling to form a quart of 



"THE CURIOUS KNOTTED GARDEN" J^ 

liquor as sweet as hypocras. Those scents and spices 
are for perfumed balls to be worn round the ladies' 
necks, there to move up and down to the music of 
sighs and heart-beating, envied by lovers whose let- 
ters will perhaps be perfumed by their contact. 

"What pleasant bright London gardens we dream 
of when we find that the remedy for a burning fever 
is honeysuckle leaves steeped in water, and that a 
cooling drink is composed of wood sorrel and Roman 
sorrel bruised and mixed with orange juice and 
barley-water. Mint is good for colic; conserves of 
roses for the tickling rheum; plaintain for flux; 
vervain for liver-complaint — all sound pjeasanter 
than those strong biting minerals which now kill or 
cure and give nature no time to heal us in her own 
quiet way." ^ 

Bacon's "Essay on Gardening" is very detailed 
and very practical, and it must be remembered that 
he was addressing highly cultivated and skilfully 
trained amateurs and professional gardeners when 
he wrote: 

"God almighty first planted a garden; and indeed 
it is the purest of human pleasures ; it is the greatest 
refreshment to the spirit of man. And a man shall 

* Thornbury. 



56 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

ever see that when ages grow to civility and elegancy 
men come to build stately sooner than to garden 
finely, as if gardening were the greater perfection." 

The Elizabethan Age, with its superlatively culti- 
vated men and women, was certainly one of those 
ages of civility and elegancy of which Bacon speaks. 
The houses were stately and the gardens perfection, 
affording appropriate setting for the brilliant cour- 
tiers and accomplished ladies of both Tudor and 
early Stuart times. 

We sometimes hear it said that Francis Bacon's 
garden was his ideal of what a garden should be 
and that his garden was never realized. This, how- 
ever, is not the case. Old prints are numerous of 
gardens of wealthy persons in the reign of Elizabeth 
and James I. Then, too, we have Sir William 
Temple's description of Moor Park, and "this gar- 
den," says Horace Walpole, "seems to have been 
made after the plan laid down by Lord Bacon in 
his Forty-sixth Essay." 

Sir William's account is as follows : 

"The perfectest figure of a garden I ever saw, 
either at home or abroad, was that of Moor Park in 
Hertfordshire, when I knew it about thirty years 
ago. It was made by the Countess of Bedford, 
esteemed among the perfectest wits of her time and 



"THE CURIOUS KNOTTED GARDEN" 57 

celebrated by Dr. Donne; and with very great care, 
excellent contrivance and much cost. 

"Because I take the garden I have named to have 
been in all kinds the most beautiful and perfect, at 
least in the figure and disposition, that I have ever 
seen, I will describe it for a model to those that meet 
with such a situation and are above the regards of 
common expense. 

"It lies on the side of a hill, upon which the house 
stands, but not very steep. The length of the house, 
where the best rooms and of most use or pleasure 
are, lies upon the breadth of the garden; the great 
parlor opens into the middle of a terrace gravel walk 
that lies even with it, and which may lie, as I re- 
member, about three hundred paces long and broad 
in proportion; the border set with standard laurels' 
and at large distances, which have the beauty of 
orange-trees out of flower and fruit. From this walk 
are three descents by many stone steps, in the mid- 
dle and at each end, into a very large parterre. This 
is divided into quarters by gravel walks and 
adorned with two fountains and eight statues in 
the several quarters. At the end of a terrace walk 
are two summer-houses, and the sides of the parterre 
are ranged with two large cloisters open to the 
garden, upon arches of stone, and ending with two 



58 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

other summer-houses even with the cloisters, which 
are paved with stone, and designed for walks of 
shade, there being none other in the whole parterre. 
Over these two cloisters are two terraces covered 
with lead and fenced with balustrades; and the 
passage into these airy walks is out of the two sum- 
mer-houses at the end of the first terrace walk. The 
cloister facing the south is covered with vines and 
would have been proper for an orange-house, and 
the other for myrtles or other more common greens, 
and had, I doubt not, been cast for that purpose, if 
this piece of gardening had been then in as much 
vogue as it is now. 

"From the middle of this parterre is a descent by 
many steps flying on each side of a grotto that lies 
between them, covered with lead and flat, into the 
lower garden, which is all fruit-trees ranged about 
the several quarters of a wilderness which is very 
shady; the walks here are all green, the grotto em- 
bellished with figures of shell rock-work, fountains 
and water-works. If the hill had not ended with the 
lower garden, and the wall were not bounded by a 
common way that goes through the park, they might 
have added a third quarter of all greens; but this 
want is supplied by a garden on the other side of 



"THE CURIOUS KNOTTED GARDEN" 59 

the house, which is all of that sort, very wild, shady, 
and adorned with rough rock work and fountains." 

To write of Elizabethan gardens without giving; 
Bacon's beautifully worked out theories would bef 
like performing "Hamlet" without the character of^ 
Hamlet. Bacon's Essay is too long to quote in its 
entirety, but the specific instructions are as follows: 

"For gardens (speaking of those which are in- 
deed prince-like), the contents ought not well to 
be under thirty acres of ground; and to be divided 
into three parts : a green in the entrance ; a heath or 
desert in the going forth; and the main garden in 
the midst, besides alleys on both sides. And I like 
well that four acres of ground be assigned to the 
green, six to the heath, four and a half to either 
side and twelve to the main garden. The green hath 
two pleasures: the one because nothing is more 
pleasant to the eye than green grass kept finely 
shorn ; the other because it will give you a fair alley 
in the midst, by which you may go in front upon 
a stately hedge, which is to enclose this garden. 
But because the alley will be long, and in great heat 
of the year or day, you ought not tc buy the shade 
in the garden by going in the sun through the green ; 
therefore, you are of either side the green to plant 



6o THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

a covert alley upon carpenter's work, about twelve 
foot in height, by which you may go in shade into 
the garden. 

"The garden is best to be square, encompassed 
on all the four sides with a stately arched hedge. 
The arches to be upon pillars of carpenter's work, 
of some ten foot high and six foot broad, and the 
spaces between of the same dimension with the 
breadth of the arch; over the arches let there be an 
entire hedge of some four foot high, framed also 
upon carpenter's work; and upon the upper hedge, 
over every arch, a little turret with a belly, enough 
to receive a cage of birds; and over every space, 
between the arches, some other little figure, with 
broad plates of round colored glass, gilt, for the 
sun to play upon. But this hedge I intend to be 
raised upon a bank, not steep, but gentle slope, of 
some six foot, set all with flowers. Also I under- 
stand that this square of the garden should not be 
the whole breadth of the ground, but to leave on 
either side ground enough for diversity of side alleys, 
into which the two covert alleys of the green may 
deliver you. But there must be no alleys with 
hedges at either end of this great enclosure. 

"For the main garden I do not deny there should 
be some fair alleys, ranged on both sides with fruit- 



"THE CURIOUS KNOTTED GARDEN" 61 

trees, and arbors with seats set in some decent order ; 
but these to be by no means set too thick, but to 
leave the main garden so as it be not close, but the 
air open and free. For, as for shade, I would have 
you rest upon the alleys of the side grounds, there 
to walk, if you be disposed, in the heat of the year, 
or day, but to make account that the main garden is 
for the more temperate parts of the year and in the 
heat of the summer for the morning and the evening, 
or overcast days. 

"For the side grounds you are to fill them with 
variety of alleys, private, to give a full shade, some 
of them wheresoever the sun be. You are to frame 
some of them likewise for shelter, that when the 
wind blows sharp you may walk as in a gallery. 
And these alleys must be, likewise, hedged at both 
ends to keep out the wind, and these closer alleys 
must be ever finely graveled and no grass, because of 
going wet. In many of these alleys, likewise, you 
are to set fruit-trees of all sorts, as well upon the 
walls as in ranges. And this would be generally 
observed that the borders wherein you plant your 
fruit-trees be fair and large and low (and not steep) 
and set with fine flowers, but thin and sparingly 
lest they deceive the trees. At the end of both the 
side grounds I would have a mount of some pretty 



62 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

height, leaving the wall of the enclosure breast high, 
to look abroad into the fields. 

"For the heath, which was the third part of our 
plot, I wish it to be framed, as much as may be, to 
a natural wildness. Trees, I would have none in it ; 
but some thickets made only of sweetbrier and 
honeysuckle and some wild vine amongst; and the 
ground set with violets, strawberries and primroses; 
for these are sweet and prosper in the shade; and 
these to be in the heath, here and there, not in any 
order. I also like little heaps in the nature of mole; 
hills (such as are in wild heaths) to be set, some 
with wild thyme, some with pinks, some with 
germander that gives a good flower to the eye ; some 
with periwinkle, some with violets, some with straw- 
berries, some with cowslips, some with daisies, some 
with red roses, some with lilium convallium^ some 
with sweet williams, red, some with bear's foot ^ and 
the like low flowers, being withal sweet and sightly. 
Part of which heaps to be with standards of little 
bushes pricked upon their top and put without. The 
standards to be roses, juniper, holly, barberries (but 
here and there, because of the smell of their blos- 
som), red currants, gooseberries, rosemary, bays, 

^ Lily-of-th^-valley. 
^Auricula. 



"THE CURIOUS KNOTTED GARDEN" 63 

sweetbrier and the like. But these standards to be 
kept with cutting that they grow not out of course. 

"For the ordering of the ground within the great 
hedge, I leave it to variety of device; advising, 
nevertheless, that whatsoever form you cast it into, 
first it be not too busy or full of work. Wherein 
I, for my part, do not like images cut out in juniper, 
or ether garden stuff — they be for children. Little 
low hedges, round like welts, with some pretty pyra- 
mids, I like well, and in some places fair columns 
upon frames of carpenter's work. I would also have 
the alleys spacious and fair. You may have closer 
alleys upon the side grounds, but none in the main 
garden. I wish also in the very middle a fair mount 
with three ascents and alleys, enough for four to 
walk abreast, which I would have to be perfect 
circles without any bulwarks or embossments, and 
the whole mount to be thirty foot high; and some 
fine banqueting-house with some chimneys neatly 
cast and without too much glass. 

"As for the making of knots, or figures, with divers 
colored earths that they may lie under the windows 
of the house, on that side which the garden stands, 
they be but toys. You may see as good sights many 
times in tarts." 

Fountains Bacon considered "a great beauty and 



64 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

refreshment," but he did not care for pools, nor did 
he favor aviaries "unless they were large enough to 
have living plants and bushes set in them and supply 
natural nesting for the birds." 

We have already seen that Bacon was very choice 
regarding "the flowers that best perfume the air"; 
and he felt it was very essential that people should 
know what to plant for the different seasons. So 
he tells us : 

"There ought to be gardens for all months of the 
year, in which, severally, things of beauty may be^ 
in season. For December and January and the lat- 
ter part of November, you must take such things as 
are green all winter: holly, ivy, bays, juniper, 
cypress-trees, yew, pine, apple-trees, fir-trees, rose- 
mary, lavender, periwinkle, the white, the purple, 
and the blue ; germander, flags ; orange-trees, lemon- 
trees and myrtle, if they be stoved; and sweet 
marjoram warm set. There followeth for the lat- 
ter part of January and February, the mezerion tree 
which then blossoms; crocus vernus, both the yel- 
low and the gray; primroses, anemones, the early 
tulip, hyacinthus orientalis, chamaires fritellaria. 
For March there come violets, especially the single 
blue, which are the earliest, the yellow daffodil, the 
daisy, the almond-tree in blossom, the peach-tree in 




LABYRINTH, VREDEMAN DE VRIES 




'a curious-knotted garden" — CRISPIN DE PASSE (1614) 



"THE CURIOUS KNOTTED GARDEN" 6^ 

blossom, the cornelian tree in blossom, sweetbrier. 
In April follow the double white violet, the wall- 
flower, the stock gilliflower, the cowslip, flower- 
de-luces, and lilies of all natures, rosemary flowers, 
the tulip, the double peony, the pale daffodil, the 
French honeysuckle, the cherry-tree in blossom, the 
damson and plum-trees in blossom, the white thorn 
in leaf, the lilac tree. In May and June come pinks 
of all sorts, roses of all kinds except the musk, which 
comes later, honeysuckles, strawberries, bugloss, 
columbine, the French marigold (Flos Africanus)^ 
cherry-tree in fruit, ribes, figs in fruit, rasps, vine- 
flowers, lavender in flowers, the sweet satyrian, with 
the white flower, herba muscaria^ lilium convalliujn^ 
the apple-tree in blossom. In July come gilliflowers 
of all varieties, musk-roses, the lime tree in blossom, 
early pears and plums in fruit, gennitings, quodlins. 
In August come plums of all sorts in fruit, pears, 
apricots, barberries, filberts, musk-melons, monks- 
hood of all colors. In September come grapes, 
apples, poppies of all colors, peaches, melocotones, 
nectarines, cornelians, wardens, quinces. In Octo- 
ber and the beginning of November come services, 
medlars, bullaces, roses cut, or removed to come late, 
hollyhocks and such like. These particulars are for 
the climate of London ; but my meaning is perceived 



66 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

that you may have ver perpetuum^ as the place 
affords." 

Gardening was a serious business. The duties 
of gardeners were not light. We are told that 
"Gardeners should not only be diligent and painful, 
but also experienced and skilful; at the least, one of 
them to have seen the fine gardens about London 
and in Kent; to be able to cast out the Quarters of 
the garden as may be most convenient that the 
Walks and the Alleys be long and large; to cast 
up Mounts, to tread out Knots in the Quarters of 
arms and fine devices, to set and sow in them sweet- 
smelling flowers and strewing herbs; to have in the 
finest parts of the garden Artichokes, Pompions, 
Melons, Cucumbers and such-like; in other places 
convenient Radishes, Keritts, Carrats and other 
roots with store of all kind of herbs for the Kitchen 
and Apothecary; to know what Flowers and Herbs 
will best endure the Sun and which need most to be 
shaded: in like sort, for the East and North winds, 
not only to be skilful in planting and grafting of 
all kinds of fruit-trees, but also how to place them 
in best order; and to be able to judge of the best 
times and seasons to plant and graft all fruits and 
to set and sow all flowers, herbs and roots; and 
also the best time when to cut and gather all herbs 



'THE CURIOUS KNOTTED GARDEN" 67 

and seeds and fruits, and in what sort to keep and 
preserve them; to make fair Bowling Alleys well 
banked and sealed, which, being well kept, in many 
houses are very profitable to the gardeners." 

The instructions in the Elizabethan manuals for 
grafting, pleaching, and plashing (see page 50) are 
most explicit and elaborate. There are rules for the 
care of every flower and herb. Nothing is too small 
for attention.. The old authors even say what flowers 
should be picked often and what flowers prefer to 
be let alone. One old gardener gives the following 
details with regard to the sowing of seeds: 

"If you will [he writes], you may sow your seeds 
in rows, or trails, either round about the edges of 
your beds to keep them in fashion, and plant either 
herbs or flowers in the body of your beds, or you 
may furnish your beds all over, making three, four, 
or five rows, or trails, according to the bigness of 
your bed ; the order, or manner, is to make each trail 
of like distance and range your line and by it, either 
with your finger or a small stick, to make your trail 
about an inch thick, or thereabout; and thereii^ to 
sow your seed, not over-thick. If you put your 
seeds in a white paper, you may (if the seeds are 
small) very easily and equally sow them by shaking 
the lower end of your paper with the forefinger of 



68 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

that hand you sow with. The paper must not be 
much open at the end. Then with your hand, or a 
trowel, to smooth the earth into each trail." 

Ill 

Old Garden Authors 

The books from which both professional and 
amateur gardeners gained their instruction are full 
of delightful information, and to us are quaintly 
expressed. Many of them were standard authori- 
ties for several generations and went through vari- 
ous editions, which, as time went on, were touched 
up by a more recent authority. One of these well- 
known garden authors was Thomas Hill, who wrote 
under the peculiar name of Didymus Mountain ; an- 
other was Gervase Markham whose "Country 
Farm," published in London in 1616 (the year of 
Shakespeare's death), often passes for an original 
work. "The Country Farm," however, was an 
earlier book, and a French one at that, called "La 
Maison Rustique," published in Paris in 1600 by 
Charles Stevens and John Liebault, "doctors of 
physicke." This was translated into English very 
soon after its appearance by Richard Surflet and 
published under the title of "The Country Farm." 



"THE CURIOUS KNOTTED GARDEN" 69 

It became an extremely popular book before Gervase 
Markham took hold of it. Markham became a great 
authority on all garden topics and wrote and 
adapted many books on the subject. From his edi- 
tion of "The Country Farm" we learn that 

"It is a commendable and seemly thing to behold 
out at a window many acres of ground well-tilled 
and husbanded; but yet it is much more to behold 
fair and comely proportions, handsome and pleas- 
ant arbors, and, as it were, closets, delightful bor- 
ders of lavender, rosemary, box and other such- 
like; to hear the ravishing music of an infinite num- 
ber of pretty, small birds, which continually, day 
and night, do chatter and chant their proper and 
natural branch-songs upon the hedges and trees of 
the garden; and to smell so sweet a nosegay so near 
at hand, seeing that this so fragrant a smell cannot 
but refresh the lord of the farm exceedingly when 
going out of his bedchamber in the morning after 
sunrise; and while as yet the clear and pearl-like 
dew doth perch on to the grass he giveth himself to 
hear the melodious music of the bees which do fill 
the air with a most acceptable sweet and pleasant 
harmony. 

"Now for the general proportion of gardens. 
They may at your pleasure carry any of these four 



70 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

shapes : that is to say, either square, round, oval, or 
diamond. This is but the outward proportion, or 
the verge and girdle of your garden. As for the in- 
ward proportions and shapes of the Quarters, Beds, 
Banks, Mounts and such-like, they are to be divided 
by Alleys, Hedges, Borders, Rails, Pillars and such- 
like; and by these you may draw your garden unto 
what form you please, not respecting whatsoever 
shape the outward verge carrieth. For you may 
make that garden which is square without to be 
round within, and that which is round, either square, 
or oval; that which is oval, either of the former, 
and that which is diamond any shape at all, — and 
yet all exceedingly comely. You may also, if your 
ground be naturally so situated, or if your industry 
please so to bring it to pass, make your garden rise 
and mount by several degrees, one level ascending 
above another, in such sort as if you had divers gar- 
dens one above another, which is exceedingly beauti- 
ful to the eye and very beneficial to your flowers and 
fruit-trees, especially if such ascents have the benefit 
of the Sun rising upon them ; and thus, if you please, 
you may have in one level a square plot ; in another, 
a round; in a third a diamond; and in a fourth, an 
oval; then amongst the ascending banks, which are 
on either side the stairs, you mount into your several 



"THE CURIOUS KNOTTED GARDEN" 71 

gardens, you shall make your physic garden or places 
to plant your physic herbs," 

We also learn from "The Country Farm" that 
"The Garden of Pleasure shall be set about and 
compassed with arbors made of jessamin, rosemarie, 
box, juniper, cypress-trees, savin, cedars, rose-trees 
and other dainties first planted and pruned accord- 
ing as the nature of every one doth require, but after 
brought into some form and order with willow or 
juniper poles, such as may serve for the making of 
arbors. The ways and alleys must be covered and 
sown with fine sand well beat, or with the powder 
of the sawing of marble, or else paved handsomely 
with good pit stone. 

"This garden, by means of a large path of the 
breadth of six feet, shall be divided into two equal 
parts; the one shall contain the herbs and flowers 
used to make nosegays and garlands of, as March 
violets, Provence gilliflowers, purple gilliflowers, In- 
dian gilliflowers, small pansies, daisies, yellow and 
white gilliflowers, marigolds, lily connally,^ daffo- 
dils, Canterbury bells, purple velvet flowers, ane- 
mones, corn-flag,^ mugwort, lilies and other such- 
like ; and it may be indeed the Nosegay Garden. 

* Lily-of-the-valley. 
' Gladiolus. 



72 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

"The other part shall have all other sweet-smell- 
ing herbs whether they be such as bear no flowers, or, 
if they bear any, yet they are not put in nosegays 
alone, but the whole herb be with them, as Southern- 
wood, wormwood, pellitory, rosemary, jessamine, 
marierom, balm-mints, pennyroyal, costmarie, 
hyssop, lavender, basil, sage, savory, rue, tansy, 
thyme, camomile, mugwort, bastard marierum, 
nept, sweet balm, all-good, anis, horehound and 
others such-like; and this may be called the garden 
for herbs and good smell. 

"These sweet herbs and flowers for nosegays shall 
be set in order upon beds and quarters of such-like 
length and breadth as those of the kitchen garden; 
others in mazes made for the pleasing and recreating 
of the 'sight, and other some are set in proportions 
made of beds interlaced and drawn one within an- 
other or broken off with borders, or without borders." 

This arrangement is interesting as not only show- 
ing the division of flower-beds but that certain herbs 
were used in nosegays. It did not, therefore, strike/ 
Shakespeare's audiences as strange that Perdila 
offered to her guests rosemary and rue on an equality 
with marigolds, violets, the crown-imperial (then 
so rare), daffodils, and lilies of all kinds. 

In William Lawson's "A New Orchard and Gar- 




5 ^ 



"THE CURIOUS KNOTTED GARDEN" 73 

den," which also appeared about the time of Shake- 
speare's death, the gardens of the period are per- 
fectly described. Lawson was a practical gardener 
and had a poetic appreciation of flowers and trees. 
His book was long an authority. Every one had it. 
Lawson writes quaintly and delightfully: 

"The Rose, red, damask, velvet and double- 
double, Provence rose, the sweet musk Rose double 
and single, the double and single white Rose, the 
fair and sweet-scenting Woodbine double and single 
and double-double, purple Cowslips and double- 
double Cowslips, Primrose double and single, the 
Violet nothing behind the best for smelling sweetly 
and a thousand more will provoke your content. 

"And all these by the skill of your gardener, so 
comely and orderly placed in your borders and 
squares and so intermingled that none looking there- 
on carmot but wonder to see what Nature corrected 
by Art can do. 

"When you behold in divers corners of your 
Orchard Mounts of stone, or wood, curiously 
wrought within and without, or of earth covered 
with fruit-trees: Kentish cherry, damsons, plums, 
etc., with stairs of precious workmanship; and in 
some corner a true Dial or Clock and some antique 
works and especially silver-sounding music — ^mixt 



74 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

Instruments and Voices — gracing all the rest — how 
will you be rapt with delight ! 

"Large walks, broad and long, close and open, 
like the Tempe groves in Thessaly, raised with 
gravel and sand, having seats and banks of Camo- 
mile, — all this delights the mind and brings health 
to the body. Your borders on every side hanging 
and drooping with Raspberries, Barberries and Cur- 
rants and the roots of your trees powdered with 
strawberries — red, white and green, — what a pleas- 
ure is this! 

"Your gardener can frame your lesser wood 
(shrubs) to the shape of men armed in the field 
ready to give battle, or swift-running greyhounds, 
or of well-scented and true running hounds to chase 
the deer or hunt the hare. This kind of hunting 
shall not waste your corn nor much your coin. 

"Mazes, well formed, a man's height, may, per- 
haps, make your friend wander in gathering of 
berries till he cannot recover himself without your 
help. 

"To have occasion to exercise within your 
Orchard, it shall be a pleasure to have a Bowling- 
Alley. 

"Rosemary and sweet Eglantine are seemly orna- 
ments about a door, or window ; so is Woodbine. 



"THE CURIOUS KNOTTED GARDEN" 75 

"One chief grace that adorns an Orchard I can- 
not let slip. A brood of nightingales, who with their 
several notes and tunes with a strong, delightsome 
voice out of a weak body, will bear you company, 
night and day. She will help you cleanse your trees 
of caterpillars and all noisome worms and flies. The 
gentle Robin Redbreast will help her and in Winter 
in the coldest storms will keep a part. Neither will 
the silly Wren be behind in summer with her dis- 
tinct whistle (like a sweet Recorder) ^ to cheer your 
spirits. The Blackbird and Throstle (for I take it 
the Thrush sings not but devours) sing loudly on a 
May morning and delight the ear much (and you 
need not want their company if you have ripe Cher- 
ries or Berries) and would gladly, as the rest, do you 
pleasure. But I had rather want their company than 
my fruit. 

"What shall I say? A thousand of delights are 
in an Orchard." 

Parkinson endeavors in the kindliest way to help 
the amateur. He is genuinely desirous to encour- 
age gardening and offers his knowledge and experi- 
ence with bounteous generosity. He has no prefer- 
ence regarding site. He says : 

"According to the situations of men's dwellings, 

*A kind of flute. See "Hamlet"; Act II, Scene II. 



76 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

so are the situations of their gardens. And, although 
divers do diversely prefer their own several places 
which they have chosen, or wherein they dwell; as 
some those places that are near unto a river or brook 
to be best for the pleasantness of the water, the ease 
of transportation of themselves, their friends and 
goods, as also for the fertility of the soil, which is 
seldom near unto a river's side ; and others extol the 
side or top of an hill, be it small or great, for the 
prospect's sake. And again, some the plain or cham- 
pian ground for the even level thereof. Yet to show 
you for every of these situations which is the fittest 
place to plant your garden in and how to defend 
it from the injuries of the cold winds and frosts that 
may annoy it, I hope be well accepted. 

"To prescribe one form for every man to follow 
were too great presumption and folly ; for every man 
will please his own fancy, be it orbicular or round, 
triangular or three-square, quadrangular or four- 
square, or more long than broad. Let every man 
choose which him liketh best. The four-square form 
is the most usually accepted with all and doth best 
agree to any man's dwelling. To form it therefore 
with walks cross the middle both ways and round 
about it also with hedges, knots or trayles, or any 



"THE CURIOUS KNOTTED GARDEN" 77 

other work within the four-square parts is according 
to every man's conceit. For there may be therein 
walls either open or close, either public or private, 
a maze or wilderness, a rock or mount with a foun- 
tain in the midst to convey water to every part of 
the garden either in pipes under the ground, or 
brought by hand and emptied in*,G large cisterns or 
great Turkey jars placed in convenient places. 
Arbors also being both graceful and necessary may 
be appointed in such convenient places as the cor- 
ners, or elsewhere, as may be most fit to serve both 
for shadow and rest after walking. 

"To border the whole square to serve as a hedge 
thereunto everyone taketh what liketh him best, as 
either privet alone, or sweetbriar and whitethorn 
enlaced together and roses of one, or two, or more 
sorts, placed here and there amongst them. Some 
also take lavender, rosemary, sage, southernwood, 
lavender-cotton, or some such thing. Some again 
plant Cornell trees and plash them, or keep them low 
to form into a hedge. And some again take a low 
prickly shrub that abideth always green called in 
Latin Pyracantha^ which in time will make an ever- 
green hedging, or border, and when it beareth fruit, 
which are red berries like unto hawthorn berries, 



78 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

make a glorious show among the green leaves in 
winter time when no other shrubs have fruit, or 
leaves." 

For the borders of the knots, Parkinson recom- 
mends thrift, hyssop and germander, but "chiefly 
above all herbs the small low, or dwarf French or 
Dutch box, because it is evergreen, thick and easily 
cut and formed." 

Roses, he says, should be planted in "the outer 
borders of the quarters, or in the middle of the long 
beds"; and lilies should be placed in a "small, round 
or square in a knot without any tall flowers growing 
about them." 

IV 

''Outlandish'' and English Flowers 

' The flowers for the knots, or beds, Parkinson di- 
vides into two classes : the "Outlandish flowers" and 
the "English flowers." 

Of the outlandish flowers first of all he mentions 
daffodils, of which there were "almost a hundred 
sorts, some either white, or yellow, or mixed, or 
else being small or great, single or double, and some 
having but one flower on a stalk; others, many." 
Other daffodils were so exceedingly sweet that a 
very few were sufficient to perfume a whole cham- 



"THE CURIOUS KNOTTED GARDEN" 79 

ber: the "single English Bastard daffodil, which 
groweth wild in many woods, groves and orchards 
in England; the double English Bastard, the French 
single white, the French double yellow, the Spanish 
yellow Bastard, the great or little Spanish white, 
and the Turkic single white Daffodil are some of 
the varieties Parkinson mentions. Then of the 
Fritillaria or the "checkerd Daffodil" Parkinson 
gives "half a score, several sorts, both white and 
red, both yellow and black, which are a wonderful 
grace and ornament in a garden in regard of the 
checker-like spots in the flower." 

Hyacinths in Parkinson's book are about "half a 
hundred sorts: some like unto little bells or stars, 
others like unto little bottles or pearls, both white 
and blue, sky colored and blush, and some star-like 
of many pretty various forms and all to give delight 
to them that will be curious to observe them." 

Shakespeare does not mention hyacinths. 

Of crocus, or saffron flowers, there were twenty 
sorts, some flowering in the spring, others in the 
autumn, but all of "glorious beauty." 

Of lilies there were "twenty several sorts and 
colors," among which the Crown Imperial, "for her 
stately form deserveth some special place in the 
garden, as also the Martagons, both white and red, 



8o THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

bo^h blush and yellow, that require to be set by 
themselves apart." 

Tulips (which are never mentioned by Shake- 
speare) were so many and various that Parkinson 
considered it beyond his ability to describe them all 
"for there is such a wonderful variety and mixture 
of colors that it is almost impossible for the wit of 
man to decipher them and to give names," and he 
added that "for every one that he might name ten 
others would probably spring up somewhere" and 
"besides this glory of variety in colors that these 
flowers have, they carry so stately and delightful a 
form and do abide so long in their bravery, there is 
no lady or gentlewoman of any worth that is not 
caught with this delight, or not delighted with these 
flowers." 

- Then the anemones, or windflowers, "so full of 
variety, so dainty, so pleasant and so delightsome, 
so plentiful in bearing and durable," he tells us 
were great favorites. 

Then the bear's-ears,^ or French cowslips, each 
one "seeming to be a nosegay of itself alone" and 
of so many colors as "white, yellow, blush, purple, 
red, tawny, murray, hair color and so on" and "not 

* Auriculas. 



"THE CURIOUS KNOTTED GARDEN" 81 

unfurnished with a pretty sweet scent, which doth 
add an increase of pleasure in those that make them 
an ornament for wearing." 

Flower-de-luces also of many sorts, one kind 
"being the Orris roots that are sold at the Apothe- 
caries whereof sweet powders are made to lie among 
garments" and "the greater Flag kind frequent 
enough in this land" and which "well doth serve 
to deck up both garden and house with Nature's 
beauties." 

Chief of all was "Your Sable Flower, so fit for 
a mourning habit that I think in the whole compass 
of Nature's store there is not a more pathetical." 

The hepatica, or noble liverwort, white, red, blue, 
or purple, somewhat resembling violets; the 
cyclamen, or sow-bread, a "flower of rare receipt 
with flowers like unto red, or blush-colored violets 
and leaves having no small delight in their pleasant 
color, being spotted and circled white upon green" ; 
the Leucoinum^ or bulbous violet; Muscari^ or musk 
grape flower ; star-flowers of different sorts ; Fhalan- 
gium^ or spiderwort; winter crowfoot, or wolfsbane; 
the Christmas flower, "like unto a single white 
rose"; bell-flowers of many kinds; yellow larkspur,^ 

^ Nasturtium. 



82 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

"the prettiest flower of a score in the garden ; flower 
gentle, or Floramour ; Flower-of-the-Sun ; ^ the Mar- 
vel of Peru, or of the World; double marsh mari- 
gold, or double yellow buttons ; double French mari- 
golds; and the double red Ranunculus, or crowfoot, 
"for exceeding the most glorious double anemone," 
completes Parkinson's list for flowers to be planted 
in the beds. The jasmine, white and yellow; the 
double honeysuckle and the lady's-bower (clematis), 
both white, and red and purple, single and double 
are "the fittest of Outlandish plants to set by arbors 
and banqueting-houses " that are open both before 
and above, to help to cover them and to give sight, 
smell and delight." 

Parkinson has not quite finished, however, with 
the outlandish flowers for he calls attention to the 
cherry bay, or Laurocerasus, saying that "the Rose 
Bay, or Oleander, and the white and blue Syringa, 
or Pipe Tree,^ are all graceful and delightful to 
set at several distances in the borders of knots, for 
some of them give beautiful and sweet flowers." 

Furthermore Parkinson writes that "the Pyra- 

* Sunflower. 

^The banqueting-house does not signify a place for great enter- 
tainments. It was a simple summer-house, or arbor, to which 
people repaired after dinner to eat the dessert, then called "ban- 
quet." 

* Lilac-tree, 



"THE CURIOUS KNOTTED GARDEN" 83 

cantha, or Prickly Coral Tree, doth remain with 
green leaves all the year and may be plashed, or 
laid down, or tyed to make up a fine hedge to border 
the whole knot" and that "the Dwarf Bay, or 
Mezereon, is most commonly either placed in the 
middle of a knot, or at the corners thereof, and 
sometimes all along a walk for the more grace." 
So much for the "outlandish" flowers I 
Turning now to the "English flowers," we find 
that Parkinson includes primroses and cowslips, 
single rose campions, white, red, and blush and the 
double red campion and the Flower of Bristow, or 
Nonesuch, "a kind of Campion, white and blush as 
well as orange-color." And here Parkinson stops a 
moment to talk about this Nonesuch, for he was so 
fond of it that he holds it in his hand in the portrait 
that appears as a frontispiece to his "Paradisus" and 
from which our reproduction is made. Of it he 
writes: "The orange color Nonesuch with double 
flowers as is rare and not common so for his bravery 
doth well deserve a Master of account that will take 
care to keep and preserve it." 

Then he continues: Bachelors'-buttons, both 
white and red; wall-flowers, double and single; 
stock-gilliflowers, queen's gilliflowers (which some 
call dame's violets and some winter gilliflowers, a 



84 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

kind of stock-gilliflower) ; violets, *'the spring's 
chief flowers for beauty, smell and use," both single 
and double; snap-dragons, "flowers of much more 
delight"; columbines, "single and double, of many 
sorts, fashions and colors, very variable, both 
speckled and parti-colored — no garden would will- 
ingly be without them." Next "Larks' heels, or 
spurs, or toes, as they are called, single and double" ; 
pansies, or heartsease, of divers colors, "although 
without scent yet not without some respect and de- 
light"; double poppies "adorning a garden with 
their variable colors to the delight of the beholders" ; 
double daisies, "white and red, blush and speckled 
and parti-colored, besides that which is called Jack- 
an-Apes-on-Horseback," double marigolds; French 
marigolds "that have a strong, heady scent, both 
single and double, whose glorious show for color 
would cause any to believe there were some rare 
goodness or virtue in them ; and carnations and gilli- 
flowers." 

Here again Parkinson's enthusiasm causes him to 
pause, for he exclaims: 

"But what shall I say to the Queen of Delight 
and of Flowers, Carnations and Gilliflowers, whose 
bravery, variety and sweet smell joined together 



"THE CURIOUS KNOTTED GARDEN" 85 

tieth every one's affection with great earnestness 
both to like and to have them'?" 

Of the overwhelming number he singles out the 
red and gray Hulo, the old carnation, the Grand 
Pere ; the Cambersive, the Savadge, the Chrystal, the 
Prince, the white carnation or delicate, the ground 
carnation, the French carnation, the Dover, the Ox- 
ford, the Bristow, the Westminster, the Daintie, the 
Granado, and the orange tawny gilliflower and its 
derivatives, the Infanta, the striped tawny, the 
speckled tawny, the flaked tawny, the Grifeld 
tawny, and many others. 

Many sweet pinks are included, "all very sweet 
coming near the Gilliflowers, Sweet Williams and 
Sweet Johns," both single and double, red and 
spotted, "and a kind of wild pinks, which for their 
beauty and grace help to furnish a garden." Then, 
too, we have peonies, double and single ; hollyhocks, 
single and double; and roses. 

The Elizabethan gardens, therefore, presented a 
magnificent array of flowers ; and it was not only in 
the grand gardens of castles and manor-houses, but 
in the estates of London merchants along the Strand 
and of the florists in Holborn, Westminster, and 
elsewhere that fine flower shows were to be enjoyed 



86 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

during every month of the year. In the country 
before the simple dwellings and the half-timbered 
and thatched cottages bright flowers blossomed in 
the same beauty and profusion as to-day. 

The charming cottage garden has changed little. 

Finally, in summing up, if we imagine as a back- 
ground a group of Tudor buildings in the Perpen- 
dicular style of architecture of red brick broken with 
bay-windows and groups of quaint chimneys vari- 
ously ornamented with zigzag and other curious 
lines, gables here and there — the whole fagade rising 
above a terrace with broad flights of steps — one at 
the middle and one at each end — and from the ter- 
race "forthrights" and paths intersecting and in 
the squares formed by them bright beds of flowers 
so arranged that the colors intermingle and blend 
so as to produce the effect of a rich mosaic and 
redolent with the sweetest perfumes all mingled 
with particular and peculiar care and art, we shall 
have a mental picture of the kind of garden that 
lay before Olivia's house in 'Twelfth Night," where 
Malvolio parades up and down the "forthrights," 
as Shakespeare distinctly tells us, in his yellow 
cross-garters, to pick up the letter dropped on the 
path by Maria while the rollicking Sir Toby Belch, 
witless Sir Andrew Aguecheek, and merry Maria 



"THE CURIOUS KNOTTED GARDEN" 87 

watch his antics from their hiding-place in the box- 
tree, or hedge. 

Such also was the garden at Belmont, Portia's 
stately home, in which Lorenzo and Jessica^ while 
waiting for their mistress on that moonlight night 
"when the sweet wind did gently kiss the trees and 
they did make no noise," voiced their ravishing duet, 
"On Such a Night." 

Such also was the garden into which Romeo 
leaped over the high wall to sing before Juliet's 
window a song that in her opinion was far sweeter 
than that of the nightingale that nightly sang in 
the pomegranate-tree by her balcony. 

If, on the other hand, we wish to visualize/ 
Perdita's garden — that of a simple shepherdess — • 
we must imagine a tiny cottage enclosure gay and 
bright with blooms of many hues, arranged in simple 
beds neatly bordered with box or thrift, but where 
there are no terraces, forthrights, or ornamental 
vases, urns or fountains. This little cottage garden 
is the kind that brightened the approach to Anne 
Hathaway's house at Shottery and Shakespeare's 
own dwelling at Stratford. 

This is a descendant, as we have seen, of the 
little Garden of Delight, the Pleasance of the 
Medieval castle. The simple cottage garden is the 



88 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

easier of the two to reproduce to-day. Although it 
only occupies a small corner in the garden proper, 
yet all the flowers mentioned by Shakespeare can 
be grown in it. 

In rural England it is not rare to come across 
old gardens that owed their existence to disciples 
of Didymus Mountain, Markham, Lawson, and 
Parkinson — gardens that have been tended for three 
hundred years and more with loving care, where 
the blossoms are descendants of "outlandish" im- 
portations of Nicholas Leate and Lord Burleigh, 
and of simple English flowers. These gladden the 
eyes of their owners to-day as the original flowers 
gladdened the eyes of those who planted them. 
Generations of people in the house and generations 
of flowers in the garden thus flourished and faded 
aide by side while the old stock put forth new blos- 
soms in both house and garden to continue the family 
traditions of both the human and the floral world. 

A typical garden dating from Shakespearean times 
was thus described a few years ago in "The Gentle- 
man's Magazine" : 

"In all England one could, perhaps, find no 
lovelier garden than that of T , an old manor- 
house, sheltered by hill and bounded by the moat, 
which is the only relic of the former feudal castle. 



"THE CURIOUS KNOTTED GARDEN" 89 

The tiled roof, the gables inlaid with oaken beams, 
are almost hidden by fragrant roses and jasmine 
flowers that shine like stars against their darker 
foliage. A sun-dial stands in the square of lawn 
before the porch, and the windows to your right open 
upon a yew-hedged bowling-green. Beyond, the 
smooth lawn slopes down to a little stream, thick 
with water-loving reeds and yellow flags ; and lime- 
trees, whose fragrance the breeze wafts to us, sweep 
the greensward in magnificent curves. If you turn 
to the left, along yonder grassy path you will find 
yourself between borders gorgeous with poppies and 
sweet william and hollyhocks and lilies that frame 
distances of blue hills and clear sky. 

"The kitchen-garden lies through that gate in 
the wall of mellowed brick — an old-fashioned 
kitchen-garden, with mingled fruit and vegetables 
and flowers. There are pear and plum-trees against 
the wall and strawberry beds next the feathery 
asparagus and gooseberry bushes hidden by hedges 
of sweet peas. Another turn will bring you into a 
labyrinth of yew hedges and so back to the bowling- 
green, across which the long shadows lie, and the 
sun-dial which marks the approach of evening. The 
light is golden on the house and on the tangled bor- 
ders; the air is fragrant with many scents." 



PART TWO 
THE FLOWERS OF SHAKESPEARE 



'THE SWEET O' THE YEAR" 

I 

Primroses^ Cowslips^ and Oxlips 

PRIMROSE {Primula vulgaris). English 
poets have always regarded the primrose as 
the first flower of spring — the true Flor di 
prima vera. This name calls to mind Botticelli's 
enchanting Primevera that hangs in the Uffizi, in 
which the sward is dotted with spring flowers that 
seem to have burst into blossom beneath the foot- 
steps of Venus and her three Graces — those lovely 
ladies of the Italian Renaissance, clad in light, flut- 
tering draperies. This decorative picture expresses 
not only the joy and beauty of newly-awakened 
spring, but something much deeper, something tKat 
the painter did not realize himself; and this was 
what the Italian Renaissance was destined to mean 
to all the world: a New Birth of beauty in the 

93 



94 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

arts and a new era of human sympathy for man- 
kind. 

Sandro Botticelli, whom we may appropriately 
call Flor di prima vera among painters, was as un- 
aware of his mission in art as the primroses that 
come into being at the call of a new day of spring 
sunshine from a long dark winter's sleep in a soil 
of frozen stiffness. Something of the tender and 
wistful beauty of early spring — her faint dreams 
and soft twilights, her languid afternoons and her 
veiled nights, when pale stars tremble through gray 
mists and when warm rains softly kiss the drowsy 
earth — Botticelli has put into his enchanting spring 
idyl; and this same wistful, half-drowsy, and 
evanescent beauty is characteristic of the primrose. 

Primrose, first born child of Ver, 
Merry Springtime's harbinger, 
With her bells dim 

is a perfect and sympathetic description of the flower 
in "The Two Noble Kinsmen." ^ 

Observe that the bells of the primrose are "dim" 
— pale in hue — because the earth is not sufficiently 
awake for bright colors or for joyful chimes — so 
the color is faint and the sound is delicate. Trees 
are now timidly putting forth tender leaves, buds 

* Act I, Scene I. 



"THE SWEET O' THE YEAR" 95 

peer cautiously from the soil, and few birds sing; 
for leaves, buds, and birds know full well that win- 
ter is lurking in the distance and that rough winds 
occasionally issue from the bag of Boreas. The 
time has not yet come for "lisp of leaves and ripple 
of rain" and for choirs of feathered songsters. Yet 
all the more, because of its bold daring and its 
modest demeanor, the primrose deserves the en- 
thusiastic welcome it has always received from poets 
and flower lovers. 

"The primrose," writes Dr. Forbes Watson, 
"seems the very flower of delicacy and refinement; 
not that it shrinks from our notice, for few plants are 
more easily seen, coming as it does when there is a 
dearth of flowers, when the first birds are singing 
and the first bees humming and the earliest green 
putting forth in the March and April woods. And 
it is one of those plants which dislikes to be looking 
cheerless, but keeps up a smouldering fire of blossom 
from the very opening of the year, if the weather 
will permit. 

"The flower is of a most unusual color, a pale, 
delicate yellow, slightly tinged with green. And the 
better flowers impress us by a peculiar paleness, not 
dependent upon any feebleness of hue, which we 
always find unpleasing, but rather upon the exquisite 



96 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

softness of their tone. And we must not overlook 
the little round stigma, that green and translucent 
gem, which forms the pupil of the eye, and is sur- 
rounded by a deeper circle of orange which helps it 
to shine forth more clearly. Many flowers have a 
somewhat pensive look; but in the pensiveness of 
the primrose there is a shade of melancholy — a 
melancholy which awakens no thought of sadness 
and does but give interest to the pale, sweet, inquir- 
ing faces which the plant upturns towards us. 

"In the primrose, as a whole, we cannot help 
being struck by an exceeding softness and delicacy; 
there is nothing sharp, strong, or incisive; the smell 
is 'the faintest and most ethereal perfume,' as Mrs. 
Stowe has called it in her 'Sunny Memories,' though 
she was mistaken in saying that it disappears when 
we pluck the flower. It is meant to impress us as 
altogether soft and yielding. One of the most beauti- 
ful points in the primrose is the manner in which 
the paleness of the fioivers is taken up by the herbage. 
This paleness seems to hang about the plant like a 
mystery, for though the leaves of the primrose may 
at times show a trace of the steady paleness of the 
cowslip, it is more usually confined to their under- 
surfaces and the white flower-stalks with their cloth- 
ing of down. And when we are looking at the prim- 



"THE SWEET O' THE YEAR" 97 

rose one or other of these downy, changeful portions 
is continually coming into view, so that we get a 
feeling as if there hung about the whole plant a 
clothing of soft, evanescent mist, thickening about 
the center of the plant and the undersurfaces of the 
leaves which are less exposed to the sun. And then 
we reach one of the main expressions of the prim- 
rose. When we look at the pale, sweet flowers, and 
the soft-toned green of the herbage, softened further 
here and there by that uncertain mist of down, the 
dryness of the leaf and fur enters forcibly into our 
impression of the plant, giving a sense of extreme 
delicacy and need of shelter, as if it were some 
gentle creature which shrinks from exposure to the 
weather." 

The Greeks associated the idea of melancholy 
with this flower. They had a story of a handsome 
youth, son of Flora and Priapus, whose betrothed 
bride died. His grief was so excessive that he died, 
too, and the gods than changed his body into a prim- 
rose. 

In Shakespeare's time, the primrose was also asso- 
ciated with early death; and it is one of the flowers 
thrown upon the corse of Fidele, whose lovely, wist- 
ful face is compared to the "pale primrose." Thus 
Arviragus exclaims as he gazes on the beautiful 



98 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

youth, Fid el e, the assumed name of Imogen in dis- 
guise : 

I '11 sweeten thy sad grave : thou shalt not lack 
The flower that 's like thy face, pale primrose.^ 

Perdita, in "The Winter's Tale," ^ mentions 

Pale primroses that die unmarried 

Ere they can behold bright Phoebus in his strength. 

Shakespeare appreciated the delicate hue and per- 
fume of this flower. He seems to be alluding to 
both qualities when he makes Hermia touch Helena's 
memory by the following words : 

And in the wood, where often you and I 
Upon faint primrose beds were wont to lie.^ 

Other English poets speak of the flower as "the 
pale," or "the dim." Milton writes: 

Now the bright star, day's harbinger 
Comes dancing from the East and leads with her 
The flow'ry May, who, from her green lap, throws 
The yellow cowslip and the pale primrose. 

And again, Thomas Carew: 

Ask me why I send you here 
The firstling of the infant year? 

^"Cymbeline"; Act IV, Scene II. 

* Act IV, Scene III. 

* "A Midsummer Night's Dream" ; Act I, Scene I. 



"THE SWEET O' THE YEAR" 99 

Ask me why I send to you 

This Primrose, all bepearled with dew? 

I straight whisper in your ears : 

The sweets of Love are wash'd with tears 

Ask me why this flower doth show 

So yellow, green and sickly, too? 

Ask me why the stalk is weak 

And, bending, yet it doth not break? 

I will answer : these discover 

What doubts and fears are in a lover. 

The English primrose is one of a large family 
of more than fifty species, represented by the prim- 
rose, the cowslip, and the oxlip. All members of 
this family are noted for their simple beauty and 
their peculiar charm. 

Parkinson writes: 

"We have so great variety of Primroses and 
Cowslips in our country breeding that strangers, 
being much delighted with them, have often fur- 
nished into divers countries to their good content. 

"All Primroses bear their long and large, broad 
yellowish-green leaves without stalks most usually, 
and all the Cowslips have small stalks under the 
leaves, which are smaller and of a darker green. The 
name of Primula veris^ or Primrose, is indifferently 
conferred on those that I distinguish for Paralyses^ 
or Cowslips. All these plants are called most 



loo THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

usually in Latin Vrimultz veris^ Primul(Z pretenses 
and Primula silvarum^ because they shew by their 
flowering the new Spring to be coming on, they 
being, as it were, the first Embassadors thereof. 
They have also divers other names, as Herba Paraly- 
sis^ Arthritic a^ Herba Sancti Petri, Claues Sancti 
Petri, V erbasculum odoratum, Lunaria arthritica, 
Phlomis, Alisma silvaru??i and Alismatis alterutn 
genus. Some have distinguished them by calling 
the Cowslips Primula Veris Elatior, that is the 
Taller Primrose, and the other Humilis, Low, or 
Dwarf, Primrose. 

"Primroses and Cowslips are in a manner wholly 
used in Cephalicall diseases to ease pains in the 
head. They are profitable both for the Palsy and 
pains of the joints, even as the Bears' Ears ^ are, 
which hath caused the names of Arthritic a Paralysis 
and Paralytica to be given them." 

Tusser in his "Husbandry" includes the prim- 
rose among the seeds and herbs of the kitchen; and 
Lyte says that "the cowslips, primroses and oxlips 
are now used daily amongst other pot-herbs, but in 
physic there is no great account made of them." 
"The old name was PrimeroUes," Dr. Prior notes 
in his quaint book on flowers. "Primerole as an 

* Auriculas. 



THE SWEET O' THE YEAR" loi 

outlandish, unintelligible word was soon familiar- 
ized into Primerolles and this into Primrose." The 
name was also written primrolles and finally settled 
down into primrose. Chaucer wrote primerole, a 
name derived from the French Pri??ieverole, mean- 
ing, like the Italian Flor di prima vera, the first 
spring flower. 

COWSLIP {Paralysis vulgaris pratensis). The 
cowslip is an ingratiating little flower, not so aloof 
as its cousin the primrose, and not at all melancholy. 
In the popular lore of Shakespeare's time the cow- 
slip was associated with fairies. In many places it 
was known as "fairy cups." For this reason Shake- 
speare makes Ariel lie in a cowslip's bell when the 
fay is frightened by the hooting of owls, or tired of 
swinging merrily in "the blossom that hangs on the, 
bough." One of the duties of Titanid s little maid 
of honor was "to hang a pearl in every cowslip's 
ear"; and this gay little fairy informs Puck of the 
important place cowslips hold in the court of the 
tiny Queen Titania: 

The cowsUps tall her pensioners be, 
In their gold coats spots you see : 
These be rubies, fairy favors, 
In these freckles live their savors.^ 

*"A Midsummer Night's Dream"; Act II, Scene I. 



102 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

To appreciate the meaning of this comparison, it 
must be remembered that the "pensioners" of Queen 
Elizabeth's court were a guard of the tallest and 
handsomest men to be found in the whole kingdom, 
men, moreover, who were in the pride of youth, and 
scions of the most distinguished families. Their 
dress was of extraordinary elegance and enriched 
heavily with gold embroidery. Hence, "gold coats" 
for the cowslips. Here and there jewels sparkled 
and glistened on the pensioners' coats. Hence 
rubies — fairy favors — favors from the Queen I The 
pensioners also wore pearls in their ears, like Raleigh 
and Leicester and other noblemen. Hence the fairy 
had to "hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear." An 
idea, too, of the size of Titania and her elves is given 
when the cowslips are considered "tall," and tall 
enough to be the body-guard of Queen Titania. 
This was a pretty little allusion to Queen Elizabeth 
and her court, which the audience that gathered to 
see the first representation of "A Midsummer Night's 
Dream" did not fail to catch. 

We get a sidelight on the importance of the pen- 
sioners in "The Merry Wives of Windsor" ^ when 
Dame Quickly tells Falstajf a great cock-and-bull 
story about the visitors who have called on Mistress 

* Act II, Scene II. 



"THE SWEET O' THE YEAR" 103 

Ford. "There have been knights and lords and 
gentlemen with their coaches, letter after letter, 
gift after gift; smelling so sweetly (all musk) and 
so rushling, I warrant you in silk and gold; and yet 
there has been earls, and, what is more, pensioners T 
Shakespeare also speaks of "the freckled cowslip" 
in "Henry V," ^ when the Duke of Burgundy refers 

to 

The even mead, that erst brought sweetly forth 
The freckled cowslip. 

All poets love the flower. 

In the language wherewith spring 
Letters cowslips on the hill, 

writes Tennyson — a charming fancy! 

Sydney Dobell has a quaint flower song contain- 
ing this verse : 

Then came the cowslip 

Like a dancer in the fair, 

She spread her little mat of green 

And on it danced she, 

With a fillet bound about her brow, 

A fillet round her happy brow, 

A golden fillet round her brow. 

And rubies in her hair. 

Never mind if country dancers rarely wear rubies ; 
the idea is pretty and on Shakespeare's authority 

*Act V, Scene II. 



104 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

we know that rubies do gleam in the cup of the cow- 
slip, as he has told us through the lips of the fairy. 
With great appreciation of the beauty of the 
flower he has Jachimo's description: 

Cinque-spotted like the crimson drops 
In the bottom of a cowslip.^ 

Most sympathetically did Dr. Forbes Watson, 
when lying on a bed of fatal illness, put into words 
what many persons have felt regarding this flower : 

"Few of our wild flowers give intenser pleasure 
than the cowslip, yet perhaps there is scarcely any 
whose peculiar beauty depends so much upon locality 
and surroundings. There is a homely simplicity 
about the cowslip, much like that of the daisy, 
though more pensive, — the quiet, sober look of an 
unpretending country girl, not strikingly beautiful 
in feature or attire, but clean and fresh as if new 
bathed in milk and carrying us away to thoughts of 
daisies, flocks and pasturage and the manners of a 
simple, primitive time, some golden age of shepherd- 
life long since gone by. And more; in looking at 
the cowslip we are always most forcibly struck by 
its apparent wholesomeness and health. This whole- 
someness is quite unmistakable. It belongs even to 

*"Cymbeline"; Act II, Scene II. 



"THE SWEET O' THE YEAR" 105 

the smell so widely different from the often oppres- 
sive perfume of other plants, as lilies, narcissuses, 
or violets. Now just such a healthy milk-fed look, 
just such a sweet, healthy odor is what we find in 
cows — an odor which breathes around them as they 
sit at rest in the pasture. The 'lips,' of course, is 
but a general resemblance to the shape of the petals 
and suggests the source of the fragrance. The cow- 
slip, as we have said, is a singularly healthy-looking 
plant, indeed, nothing about it is more remarkable. 
It has none of the delicacy and timidity of the prim- 
rose. All its characters are well and healthily pro- 
nounced. The paleness is uniform, steady, and 
rather impresses us as whiteness; and the yellow of 
the cup is as rich as gold. The odor is not faint, but 
saccharine and luscious. It does not shrink into the 
sheltered covert, but courts the free air and sun- 
shine of the open fields; and instead of its flowers 
peeping timidly from behind surrounding leaves, it 
raises them boldly on a stout, sufRcient stalk, the 
most conspicuous object in the meadow. Its poetry 
is the poetry of common life, but of the most de- 
licious common life that can exist. The plant is in 
some respects careless to the verge of disorder; and 
you should note that carelessness well, till you feel 
the force of it, as especially in the lame imperfec- 



io6 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

tion of the flower buds, only, perhaps half of them 
well developed and the rest dangling all of unequal 
lengths. Essentially the cowslip and the primrose 
are only the same plant in two different forms, the 
one being convertible into the other. The primrose 
is the cowslip of the woods and sheltered lanes; the 
cowslip is the primrose of the fields." 

The name cowslip is not derived from the lips 
of the cow, but, according to Skeat, the great Anglo- 
Saxon authority, it comes from an Anglo-Saxon word 
meaning dung and was given to the plant because 
it springs up in meadows where cows are pastured. 

"The common field Cowslip," says Parkinson, 
"I might well forbear to set down, being so plenti- 
ful in the fields; but because many take delight in 
it and plant it in their gardens, I will give you the 
description of it here. It hath divers green leaves, 
very like unto the wild Primrose, but shorter, 
rounder, stiffer, rougher, more crumpled about the 
edges and of a sadder green color, every one stand- 
ing upon his stalk which is an inch or two long 
Among the leaves rise up divers long stalks, a foot 
or more high, bearing at the top many fair, yellow, 
single flowers with spots of a deep yellow at the 
bottom of each leaf, smelling very sweet. 

"In England they have divers names according 



"THE SWEET O' THE YEAR" 107 

to several countries, as Primroses, Cowslips, Oxlips, 
Palsieworts and Petty Mullins. The Frantic Fan- 
tastic, or Foolish, Cowslip in some places is called 
by country people Jack-an-Apes-on-Horseback, 
which is a usual name given by them to many other 
plants, as Daisies, Marigolds, etc., if they be strange 
or fantastical, differing in form from the ordinary 
kind of the single ones. The smallest are usually 
called through all the North Country Birds' Eyen, 
because of the small yellow circle in the bottoms of 
the flowers resembling the eye of a bird." 

OXLIP {Primula eliator). The oxlip combines 
the qualities of primrose and cowslip. "These two 
plants," writes a botanist, "appear as divergent ex- 
pressions of a simple type, the cowslip being a con- 
tracted form of primrose, the sulphur yellow and 
the fine tawny, watery rays of the latter brightened 
into well defined orange spots. In the oxlip these 
characters anastomose." 

Thus, partaking of the character of primrose and 
cowslip, the oxlip is considered by some authorities 
a hybrid. "The oxlip and the polyanthus," says 
Dr. Forbes Watson, "with its tortoiseshell blossoms, 
are two of the immediate forms; the polyanthus 
being a great triumph of the gardener's art, a de- 
lightful flower, quite a new creation and originally 



io8 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

produced by cultivation of the primrose." In Eng- 
land the oxlip is found in woods, fields, meadows, 
and under hedges. Though a spring flower it lingers 
into summer and is found in company with the nod- 
ding violet, wild thyme, and luscious eglantine on 
the bank where Titania loved to sleep lulled to rest 
by song.^ Perdita speaks of "bold oxlips" ("The 
Winter's Tale," Act iv. Scene iii); and compared 
with the primrose and cowslip the flower deserves 
the adjective. 

"Oxlips in their cradles growing," in the song in 
"The Two Noble Kinsmen," ^ which Shakespeare 
wrote with John Fletcher, shows great knowledge 
of the plant, for the root-leaves of the oxlip are 
shaped like a cradle. 

Parkinson writes: "Those are usually called ox- 
lips whose flowers are naked, or bare, without husks 
to contain them, being not so sweet as the cowslip, 
yet have they some little scent, although the Latin 
name doth make them to have none." 

"A Midsummer Night's Dream"; Act II, Scene II. 
■ Act I, Scene I. 



"THE SWEET O' THE YEAR" 109 

II 

"Daffodils that Come Before the Swallow Dares" 
DAFFODIL {Narcissus pseudo-narcissus) . 

When daffodils begin to peer. 

With heigh! the doxy, over the dale. 

Why then comes in the sweet o' the year; 
For the red blood reigns in the winter's pale. 

Is the opening verse that Autolycus sings so gaily 
in "The Winter's Tale." ^ The daffodil was "care- 
fully nourished up" in Elizabethan gardens, as the 
saying went. Before Shakespeare's time a great 
number of daffodils had been introduced into Eng- 
land from various parts of the Continent. Gerard 
describes twenty- four different species, "all and 
every one of them in great abundance in our London 
gardens." 

There were many varieties both rare and ordi- 
nary. Parkinson particularly distinguishes the true 
daffodils, or narcissus^ from the "Bastard Daffo- 
dils," or pseudo narcissus; and he gives their differ- 
ences as follows: 

"It consisteth only in the flower and chiefly in 
the middle cup, or chalice; for that we do, in a 

*Act IV, Scene II. 



no THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

manner only, account those to be Fseudo Narcissus^ 
Bastard Daffodils, whose middle cup is altogether as 
long, and sometimes a little longer than, the outer 
leaves that do encompass it, so that it seemeth rather 
like a trunk, or a long nose, than a cup or chalice, 
such as almost all the Narcissi^ or true Daffodils, 
have. Of the Bastard tribe Parkinson gives the 
great yellow Spanish Daffodil; the Mountain Bas- 
tard of divers kinds; the early straw-colored; the 
great white Spanish ; the greatest Spanish white ; the 
two lesser white Spanish; our common English wild 
Bastard Daffodil ; the six-cornered ; the great double 
yellow, or John Tradescant's great Rose Daffodil; 
Mr. Wilmer's great double Daffodil; the great 
double yellow Spanish, or Parkinson's Daffodil ; the 
great double French Bastard; the double English 
Bastard, or Gerard's double Daffodil; the great 
white Bastard Rush Daffodil, or Junquilia; the 
greater yellow Junquilia; and many others." 

Then he adds: 

"The Pseud narcissus Angliens vulgaris is so 
common in all England, both in copses, woods and 
orchards, that I might well forbear the description 
thereof. It hath three, or four, grayish leaves, long 
and somewhat narrow, among which riseth up the 
stalk about a span high, or little higher, bearing at 



"THE SWEET O' THE YEAR" in 

the top, out of a skinny husk (as all other Daffodils 
have), one flower, somewhat large, having the six 
leaves that stand like wings, of a pale yellow color, 
and the long trunk in the middle of a faire yellow 
with the edges, or brims, a little crumpled, or un- 
even. After the flower is past, it beareth a round 
head, seeming three square, containing round black 
seed." 

Shakespeare knew all of these varieties very well 
and had many of them in mind when he wrote the 
beautiful lines for Perdita^ who exclaims: 

O Proserpina ! 
For the flowers now that, frighted, thou lettst fall 
From Dis's wagon. Daffodils 
That come before the swallow dares, and take 
The winds of March with beauty.^ 

Much has been written about this description of 
the daffodils; and it is generally thought that "to 
take the winds of March with beauty" means to 
charm, or captivate, the wild winds with their love- 
liness. I do not agree with this idea, and venture 
to suggest that as the daffodils sway and swing in 
the boisterous March winds with such infinite grace 
and beauty, bending this way and that, they "take 
the winds with beauty," just as a graceful dancer 

'"The Winter's Tale"; Act IV, Scene III. 



112 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

is said to take the rhythmic steps of the dance with 
charming manner. 

We get a hint for this also in Wordsworth's poem ; 

I wandered lonely as a cloud 

That floats on high o'er vales and hills, 

When all at once I saw a crowd, 
A host of yellow daffodils ; 

Beside the lake, beneath the trees, 

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. 

Continuous as the stars that shine 

And twinkle on the Milky-Way 
They stretched in never-ending line 

Along the margin of the bay: 
Ten thousand saw I at a glance, 
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance. 

The waves beside them danced, but they 
Outdid the sparkling waves in glee ; 

A poet would not be but gay 
In such a jocund company: 

I gazed — ^and gazed — but little thought 

What wealth the show to me had brought 

For oft when on my couch I lie 

In vacant, or in pensive, mood, 
They flash upon that inward eye 

Which is the bliss of solitude ; 
And then my heart with pleasure fills 
And dances with the daffodils. 

No one can read this poem without feeling that 
the dancing daffodils "take the winds of March with 




GARDENERS AT WORK, SIXTEENTH CENTURY 




GARDEN PLEASURES, SIXTEENTH CENTURY 



"THE SWEET O' THE YEAR" 113 

beauty." The very name of the daffodil touches 
our imagination. It carries us to the Elysian Fields, 
for the ancient Greeks pictured the meads of the 
blessed as beautifully golden and deliciously fra- 
grant with asphodels. The changes ring through 
asphodel, affodile, affodyl, finally reaching daffodil. 
Then there is one more quaint and familiar name 
and personification, 

Daffy-down-dilly that came up to town 
In a white petticoat and a green gown. 

The idea of daffodil as a rustic maiden was popular 
in folk-lore and poetry. The feeling is so well ex- 
pressed in Michael Drayton's sprightly eclogue 
called "Daffodil" that it forms a natural comple- 
ment to the happy song of care-free Autolycus just 
quoted. This Pastoral captured popular fancy; and 
it is just as fresh and buoyant as it was when it was 
written three hundred years ago. Two shepherds, 
Batte and Gorbo^ meet: 

Batte 
Gorbo, as thou camst this way, 

By yonder little hill, 
Or, as thou through the fields didst stray, 

Sawst thou my Daffodil? 

She 's in a frock of Lincoln green. 
Which color likes the sight; 



114 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

And never hath her beauty seen 
But through a veil of white. 

GORBO 

Thou well describst the daffodil ; 

It is not full an hour 
Since by the spring, near yonder hill, 

I saw that lovely flower. 

Batte 
Yet my fair flower thou didst not meet, 

No news of her didst bring; 
And yet my Daffodil 's more sweet 

Than that by yonder spring. 

GoRBO 

I saw a shepherd that doth keep 

In yonder field of lilies 
Was making (as he fed his sheep) 

A wreath of daffodillies. 

Batte 
Yet, Gorbo, thou deludst me still. 

My flower thou didst not see ; 
For know my pretty Daffodil 

Is worn of none but me. 

To show itself but near her feet 

No lily is so bold. 
Except to shade her from the heat, 

Or keep her from the cold. 

Gorbo 
Through yonder vale as I did pass 
Descending from the hill, 



"THE SWEET O' THE YEAR" 115 

I met a smirking bonny lass ; 
They call her Daffodil, 

Whose presence as along she went 

The pretty flowers did greet, 
As though their heads they downward bent 

With homage to her feet, 

And all the shepherds that were nigh 

From top of every hill 
Unto the valleys loud did cry: 

There goes sweet Daffodil ! 

Batte 
Ay, gentle shepherd, now with joy 

Thou see my flocks doth fill ; 
That 's she alone, kind shepherd boy, 

Let 's us to Daffodil ! 

The flower was also called jonquil, saffron lily, 
Lent lily and narcissus. It was the large yellow 
narcissus, known as the Rose of Sharon, so common 
in Palestine, of which Mohammed said: "He that 
hath two cakes of bread, let him sell one of them 
for a flower of the narcissus; for bread is the food 
of the body, but narcissus is the food of the soul." 

Narcissus, the most beautiful youth of Boeotia, 
was told that he would live happily until he saw his 
own face. Loved by the nymphs, and particularly 
Echo, he rejected their advances for he was immune 
to love and admiration. One day, however, he be- 



ii6 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

held himself in a stream and became so fascinated 
with his reflection that he pined to death gazing at 
his own image. 

For him the Naiads and the Dryads mourn, 
Whom the sad Echo answers in her turn, 
And now the sister nymphs prepare his urn ; 
When looking for his corpse, they only found 
A rising stalk with yellow blossoms crowned. 

In the center of the cup are to be found the tears 
of Narcissus I 

Because the flower was consecrated to Ceres and 
to the Underworld and to the Elysian Fields, the 
daffodil was one of the flowers that Proserpine was 
gathering when "dusky Dis" carried her off — and 
the myth also hints that the Earth purposely brought 
the asphodel forth from the Underworld to entice 
the unsuspecting daughter of Ceres. Sophocles as- 
sociates the daffodil with the garlands of great god- 
desses: "And ever, day by day, the narcissus with 
its beauteous clusters, the ancient coronet of the 
mighty goddesses, bursts into bloom by heaven's 
dew." ^ 

The delightful Dr. Forbes Watson writes of the 
daffodil like a painter, with accurate observation and 
bright palette : 

* CEdipus Coloneus. 



"THE SWEET O' THE YEAR" 117 

"In the daffodil the leaves and stems are of a full 
glaucous green, a color not only cool and refreshing 
in itself, but strongly suggestive of water, the most 
apparent source of freshness and constituting a most 
delicious groundwork for the bright, lively yellow 
of the blossoms. Now what sort of spathe would be 
likely to contribute best to this remarkable effect of 
the flower*? Should the colors be unusually striking 
or the size increased, or what? Strange to say, in 
both Daffodil and Pheasant's Eye (Poet's Narcis- 
sus) we find the spathe dry and withered, shrivelled 
up like a bit of thin brown paper and clinging round 
the base of the flowers. We cannot overlook it, and 
most assuredly we were never meant to do so. Noth- 
ing could have been more beautifully ordered than 
this contrast, there being just sufficient to make us 
appreciate more fully that abounding freshness of 
life. 

"It is a plant which affords a most beautiful con- 
trast, a cool, watery sheet of leaves with bright, 
warm flowers, yellow and orange, dancing over the 
leaves like meteors over a marsh. The leaves look 
full of watery sap, which is the life blood of plants 
and prime source of all their freshness, just as the 
tissues of a healthy child look plump and rosy from 
the warm blood circulating within. 



ii8 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

"In its general expression the Poet's Narcissus 
seems a type of maiden purity and beauty, yet 
warmed by a love-breathing fragrance ; and yet what 
innocence in the large soft eye which few can rival 
among the whole tribe of flowers. The narrow, yet 
vivid fringe of red so clearly seen amidst the white- 
ness suggests again the idea of purity and gushing 
passion — purity with a heart which can kindle into 
fire." 

Ill 

^'Daisies Pied and Violets Blue" 

DAISY (Bellis perennis). Shakespeare often 
mentions the daisy. With "violets blue" "lady- 
smocks all silver- white," and "cuckoo-buds of every 
hue," it "paints the meadows with delight" in that 
delightful spring-song in "Love's Labour 's Lost." ^ 
Shakespeare also uses this flower as a beautiful com- 
parison for the delicate hand of Lucrece in "The 
Rape of Lucrece" : ^ 

Without the bed her other fair hand was 
On the green coverlet ; whose perfect white 
Showed like an April daisy on the grass. 

* Act V, Scene II. 
'Stanza 57. 



"THE SWEET O' THE YEAR" 119 

The daisy is among the flowers in the fantastic gar- 
lands that poor Ophelia wove before her death.* 

The botanical name Bellis shows the origin of the 
flower. Belides, a beautiful Dryad, trying to escape 
the pursuit of Vertumnus, god of gardens and 
orchards, prayed to the gods for help; and they 
changed her into the tiny flower. In allusion to this 
Rapin wrote: 

When the bright Ram, bedecked with stars of gold, 
Displays his fleece the Daisy will unfold, 
To nymphs a chaplet and to beds a grace, 
Who once herself had borne a virgin's face. 

The daisy was under the care of Venus. It has 
been beloved by English poets ever since Chaucer 
sang the praises of the day's eye — daisy. Chaucer 
tells us, in what is perhaps the most worshipful poem 
ever addressed to a flower, that he always rose early 
and went out to the fields, or meadows, to pay his 
devotions to this "flower of flowers," whose praises 
he intended to sing while ever his life lasted, and 
he bemoaned the fact, moreover, that he had not 
words at his command to do it proper reverence. 

Next to Chaucer in paying homage to the daisy 
comes Wordworth with his 

'"Hamlet"; Act IV, Scene VII. 



120 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

A nun demure, of lowly port; 

Or sprightly maiden, of Love's court; 

In thy simplicity the sport 

Of all temptations ; 
Queen in crown of rubies drest, 
A starveling in a scanty vest. 
Are all, as seems to suit the best 

My appellations. 

A little Cyclops with one eye 

Staring to threaten and defy 

That thought comes next — and instantly 

The freak is over. 
The shape will vanish — and behold, 
A silver shield with boss of gold 
That spreads itself some fairy bold 

In fight to cover. 

Bright flower ! for by that name at last 
When all my reveries are past 
I call thee, and to that cleave fast, 

Sweet, silent creature 
That breathst with me the sun and air, 
Do thou as thou art wont repair 
My heart with gladness and a share 

Of thy meek nature. 

"Daisies smell-less yet most quaint" is a line from 
the flower-song in "The Two Noble Kinsmen," writ- 
ten by John Fletcher and Shakespeare.^ 

Milton speaks of 

Meadows trim with daisies pied 
*Act I, Scene I. 



"THE SWEET O' THE YEAR" 121 

and Dryden pays a tribute to which even Chaucer 
would approve : 

And then a band of flutes began to play, 

To which a lady sang a tirelay ; 

And still at every close she would repeat 

The burden of the song — "The Daisy is so sweet! 

The Daisy is so sweet !" — when she began 

The troops of Knights and dames continued on. 

The English daisy is "The wee, modest crimson- 
tipped flower," as Burns has described it, and must 
not be confused with the daisy that powders the 
fields and meadows in our Southern States with a 
snow of white blossoms supported on tall stems. 
This daisy, called sometimes the moon-daisy (Chrys- 
anthemum Leucanthemum), is known in England 
as the midsummer daisy and ox-eye. In France it is 
called marguerite and paquerette. Being a mid- 
summer flower, it is dedicated to St. John the Bap- 
tist. It is also associated with St, Margaret and 
Mary Magdalen, and from the latter it derives the 
names of maudlin and maudelyne. As Ophelia 
drowned herself in midsummer the daisies that are 
described in her wreath are most probably mar- 
guerites and not the "day's eye" of Chaucer. 

Parkinson does not separate daisies very particu- 
larly. "They are usually called in Latin," he tells 



122 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

us, "Bellides and in English Daisies. Some of them 
Herba Margarita and Primula veris^ as is likely 
after the Italian names of Marguerita and Flor di 
prima vera gentile. The French call them 
Paquerettes and Marguerites; and the fruitful sort, 
or those that have small flowers about the middle 
one, Margueritons. Our English women call them 
Jack-an-Apes-on-Horseback." 

The daisy that an Elizabethan poet quaintly de- 
scribes as a Tudor princess resembles the midsum- 
mer daisy rather than the "wee, modest, crimson- 
tipped flower" of Burns: 

About her neck she wears a rich wrought ruff 
With double sets most brave and broad bespread 
Resembling lovely lawn, or cambric stuff 
Pinned up and prickt upon her yellow head. 

Also Browne in his "Pastorals" seems to be thinking 
of this flower : 

The Daisy scattered on each mead and down, 
A golden tuft within a silver crown. 

VIOLET {Viola odoratd). The violet was con- 
sidered "a choice flower of delight" in English gar- 
dens. Shakespeare speaks of the violet on many 
occasions and always with tenderness and deep ap- 
preciation of its qualities. Violets are among the 



"THE SWEET O' THE YEAR" 123 

flowers that the frightened Proserpine dropped from 
Pluto's ebon car — 

Violets dim 
And sweeter than the lids of Juno's eyes, 
Or Cytherea's breath.'^ 

Thus in Shakespeare's opinion the violet out- 
sweetened both Juno, majestic queen of heaven, and 
Venus, goddess of love and beauty. 

How could he praise the violet more? 

To throw a perfume on the violet 
Is wasteful and ridiculous excess. 

Shakespeare informs us in "King John." ^ With 

the utmost delicacy of perfection he describes 

Titania's favorite haunt as 

a bank where the wild thyme blows, 
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows.' 

In truth, the tiny flower seems to nod among its 
leaves. 

Shakespeare makes the elegant Duke in "Twelfth 
Night," who is lounging nonchalantly on his divan, 
compare the music he hears to the breeze blowing 
upon a bank of violets * (see page 44). 

*"The Winter's Tale"; Act IV, Scene III. 

*Act IV, Scene II. 

'"A Midsummer Night's Dream"; Act II, Scene IT. 

*Act I, Scene I. 



124 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

Shelley held the same idea that the delicious 
perfume of flowers is like the softest melody : 

The snowdrop and then the violet 
Arose from the ground with warm rain wet; 
And there was mixed with fresh color, sent 
From the turf Hke the voice and the instrument. 

And the hyacinth, purple and white and blue, 
Which flung from its bells a sweet peal anew 
Of music, so delicate, soft and intense 
It was felt like an odor within the sense. 

Ophelia laments that she has no violets to give 

to the court ladies and lords, for "they withered" 

when her father died, she tells us. Shakespeare 

also associates violets with melancholy occasions. 

Marina enters in "Pericles" with a basket of flowers 

on her arm, saying : * 

The yellows, blues, 
The purple violets and marigolds 
Shall as a carpet hang upon thy grave 
While summer days do last. 

On another occasion, with a broad sweeping ges- 
ture, Shakespeare mentions 

The violets that strew 
The green lap of the new-come Spring. 

' Act IV, Scene II. 



"THE SWEET O' THE YEAR" 125 

In "Sonnet XCIX" he writes: 

The forward violet thus did I chide: 

Sweet thief, whence didst thou steal the sweet that smells 

If not from my love's breath ? The purple pride 

Which on thy soft cheek for complexion dwells 

In my love's veins thou hast too grossly dyed. 

Bacon deemed it most necessary "to know what 
flowers and plants do best perfume the air," and 
he thought "that which above all others yields the 
sweetest smell is the violet, and next to that the 
musk-rose." (See page 44.) 

"Perhaps of all Warwickshire flowers," writes a 
native of Shakespeare's country, "none are so plenti- 
ful as violets; our own little churchyard of White- 
church is sheeted with them. They grow in every 
hedgebank until the whole air is filled with their 
fragrance. The wastes near Stratford are sometimes 
purple as far as the eyes can see with the flowers of 
viola canina. Our English violets are twelve in 
number. The plant is still used in medicine and 
acquired of late a notoriety as a suggested cancer 
cure; and in Shakespeare's time was eaten raw with 
onions and lettuces and also mingled in broth and 
used to garnish dishes, while crystallized violets are 
not unknown in the present day." 



126 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

For the beauty of its form, for the depth and 
richness of its color, for the graceful drooping of 
its stalk and the nodding of its head, for its lovely 
heart-shaped leaf and above all for its delicious per- 
fume, the violet is admired. Then when we gaze 
into its tiny face and note the delicacy of its veins, 
which Shakespeare so often mentions, we gain a 
sense of its deeper beauty and significance. 

Dr. Forbes Watson observed : 

"I give one instance of Nature's care for the look 
of the stamens and pistils of a flower. In the blos- 
som of the Scented Violet the stamens form, by their 
convergence, a little orange beak. At the end of 
this beak is the summit of the pistil, a tiny speck 
of green, but barely visible to the naked eye. Yet 
small as it is, it completes the color of the flower, 
by softening the orange, and we can distinctly see 
that if this mere point were removed, there would 
be imperfection for the want of it." 

St. Francis de Sales, a contemporary of Shake- 
speare, gave a lovely description of the flower when 
he said: 

"A true widow is in the Church as a March Violet, 
shedding around an exquisite perfume by the frag- 
rance of her devotion and always hidden under the 
ample leaves of her lowliness and by her subdued 



"THE SWEET O' THE YEAR" 127 

coloring, showing the spirit of her mortification. 
She seeks untrodden and solitary places." 

The violet's qualities of lowliness, humility, and 
sweetness have always appealed to poets. The vio- 
let is also beloved because it is one of the earliest 
spring flowers. Violets are, like primroses and cow- 
slips, 

The first to rise 
And smile beneath Spring's wakening skies, 
The courier of a band of coming flowers. 

The violet was also an emblem of constancy. At 
the floral games, instituted by Clemence Isaure at 
Toulouse in the Fourteenth Century, the prize was 
a golden violet, because the poetess had once sent 
a violet to her Knight as a token of faithfulness. 
With the Troubadours the violet was a symbol of 
constancy. In "A Handful of Pleasant Delights," a 
popular song-book published in Elizabeth's reign in 
1566, there is a poem called "A Nosegay always 
Sweet for Lovers to send Tokens of Love at New 
Year's tide, or for Fairings, as they in their minds 
shall be disposed to write." This poem contains a 
verse to the violet: 

Violet is for faithfulness 

Which in me shall abide ; 
Hoping likewise that from your heart 

You will not let it slide, 



128 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

And will continue in the same, 

As you have now begun; 
And then forever to abide 

Then you my heart have won. 

The violet has always held a loved place in the 
English garden. Gerard writes quaintly in his 
"Herbal" : 

'The Black, or Purple Violets, or March Violets, 
of the garden have a great prerogative above all 
others, not only because the mind conceiveth a cer- 
tain pleasure and recreation by smelling and 
handling of those most odoriferous flowers, but also 
for the very many by these Violets receive ornament 
and comely grace; for there be made of them gar- 
lands for the head, nosegays and poesies, which are 
delightful to look on and pleasant to smell to, speak; 
ing nothing of their appropriate virtues; yea, gar- 
dens themselves receive by these the greatest orna- 
ment of all chief est beauty and most gallant grace ; 
and the recreation of the mind, which is taken there- 
by, cannot but be very good and honest; for they 
admonish and stir up a man to that which is comely 
and honest; for flowers through their beauty, 
variety of color and exquisite form do bring to a 
liberal and great mind the remembrance of honesty, 
comeliness and all kinds of virtue." 



"THE SWEET O' THE YEAR" 129 

Proserpine was gathering violets among other 
flowers in the fields of Enna in Sicily when Pluto 
carried her offo Shakespeare touched upon the story 
most exquisitely, through the lips of Perdita, as 
quoted above. 

Another Greek myth accounts for the Greek word 
for the violet, which is ion. It seems when, in order 
to protect her from the persecutions of Juno, Jove 
transformed lovely Europa into a white heifer whom 
he named lo, he caused sweet violets to spring up 
from the earth wherever the white cow placed her 
lips ; and from her name, lo, the flower acquired the 
name ion. 

The Athenians adored the flower. Tablets were 
engraved with the word ion and set up everywhere 
in Athens; and of all sobriquets the citizens pre- 
ferred that of "Athenian crowned with violets." 

The Persians also loved the violet and made a 
delicious wine from it. A sherbet flavored with 
violet blossoms is served in Persia and Arabia to- 
day at feasts; and Mohammedans say: "The excel- 
lence of the violet is as the excellence of El Islam 
above all other religions." 



130 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

IV 

"Lady-smocks all Silver White" and "Cuckoo Buds 
of Yellow Hue" 

LADY-SMOCK {Cardamine pratensis). The 
lovely little spring song in "Love's Labour's Lost" ^ 
with the line, 

Lady-smocks all silver white, 

has immortalized this little flower of the English 
meadows, but little known in our country. The 
lady-smock is very common in England in early 
spring. Properly speaking it should be Our Lady's- 
smock, as it is one of the many plants dedicated to 
the Virgin Mary and bearing her name. The list is 
a long one, including Lady's-slippers, Lady's-bower, 
Lady's-cushion, Lady' s-man tie, Lady's-laces, Lady's- 
looking-glass, Lady's-garters, Lady's-thimble, 
Lady's-hair (maidenhair fern), Lady's-seal, Lady's- 
thistle, Lady's-bedstraw, Lady's-fingers, Lady's- 
gloves, and so on. These flowers, originally 
dedicated to Venus, Juno, and Diana in Greek 
and Roman mythology and to Freya and Bertha 
in Northern lore and legend, were gradually trans- 

^Act V, Scene II. 



"THE SWEET O' THE YEAR" 131 

ferred to the Virgin with the spread of Christi- 
anity. The Lady's-smock takes its name from the 
fancied, but far-fetched, resemblance to a smock. 
It is said, by way of explanation, that when these 
flowers are seen in great quantity they suggest the 
comparison of linen smocks bleaching on the green 
meadow. Other names for the plant are Cuckoo- 
flower, Meadow-cress, Spinks, and Mayflower; and 
in Norfolk the Cardamine pratensis is called Can- 
terbury-bells. The petals have a peculiarly soft 
and translucent quality with a faint lilac tinge. 
Shakespeare describes the flower as "silver white," 
an epithet that has puzzled many persons. How- 
ever, one ardent Shakespeare lover has made a dis- 
covery : 

"Gather a lady-smock as you tread the rising 
grass in fragrant May, and although in individuals 
the petals are sometimes cream color, as a rule the 
flower viewed in the hand is lilac — pale, but purely 
and indisputably lilac. Where then is the silver- 
whiteness*? It is the meadows, remember, that are 
painted, when, as often happens, the flower is so 
plentiful as to hide the turf, and most particularly 
if the ground be a slope and the sun be shining from 
behind us, all is changed; the flowers are lilac no 
longer; the meadow is literally 'silver-white.' So 



132 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

it is always — Shakespeare's epithets are like prisms. 
Let them tremble in the sunshine and we discover 
that it is he who knows best." 
The beautiful song begins: 

When daisies pied and violets blue, 

And lady-smocks all silver white, 
And cuckoo buds of yellow hue, 

Do paint the meadows with delight, 
The cuckoo then, on every tree. 

Mocks married men, for thus sings he: 
Cuckoo, 
Cuckoo, Cuckoo — or word of fear, 
Unpleasing to a married ear. 

CUCKOO BUDS {Ranunculus) . It is quite pos- 
sible that in "cuckoo buds of yellow hue" Shake- 
speare meant the blossoms of the buttercup or king- 
cup (called by the country people of Warwickshire 
horse-blobs). Some authorities claim that cuckoo- 
buds is intended to represent the lesser celandine, of 
which Wordsworth was so fond that he wrote three 
poems to it. Others call cuckoo-buds carmine 
pratensis; but that could hardly be possible because 
Shakespeare speaks of "lady-smocks all silver white" 
in one line and "cuckoo buds of yellow hue" in the 
succeeding line. 

There is much confusion in the identification of 



"THE SWEET O' THE YEAR" 133 

lady-smocks, cuckoo-buds, cuckoo-flowers, and crow- 
flowers, for they are more or less related. 

Gerard says : "Our Lady-Smock is also called the 
cuckoo-flower because it flowers in April and May 
when the cuckoo doth begin to sing her pleasant 
notes without stammering." 



Anemones and "Azured Harebells*' 

ANEMONE {Anemone purpurea striata stel- 

lata). The anemone is described in "Venus and 

Adonis" very minutely: ^ 

By this, the boy that by her side lay kill'd, 
Was melted like a vapor from her sight, 
And in his blood that on the ground lay spill 'd, 
A purple flower sprung up chequer'd with white. 
Resembling well his pale cheeks, and the blood, 
Which in round drops upon their whiteness stood. 

Adonis, the beautiful youth, beloved of Venus, 
was wounded by a boar, to which he had given chase. 
Venus found him as he lay dying' on the grass. To 
make him immortal she changed him into an ane- 
mone, or windflower. Naturally the flower was 
dedicated to Venus. 

* Verse 195. 



134 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

Bion sang : 

Alas! the Paphian! fair Adonis slain! 

Tears plenteous as his blood she pours amain, 

But gentle flowers are born and bloom around 

From every drop that falls upon the ground. 

Where streams his blood, there blushing springs a Rose 

And where a tear has dropped a windflower blows. 

Pliny asserted the anemone only blooms when 
the wind blows. 

The flower was associated with illness in the days 
of the Egyptians and also during the Middle Ages, 
when there was also a superstition that the first ane- 
mone gathered would prove a charm against disease. 
The first spring blossom was, therefore, eagerly 
searched for, delightedly plucked, and carefully 
guarded. No token of affection was more prized by 
a loved one going off on a journey than the gift of 
an anemone. An old ballad has the lines : 

The first Spring-blown Anemone she in his doublet wove, 
To keep him safe from pestilence wherever he should rove. 

Anemones were greatly valued in Elizabethan 
gardens. Indeed it was a fad to grow them. 
Parkinson distinguishes the family of anemones as 
"the wild and the tame, or manured, both of them 
nourished up in gardens." He classifies them still 
further as "those that have broader leaves and those 



"THE SWEET O' THE YEAR" 135 

that have thinner, or more jagged, leaves" ; and then 
again into those "that bear single flowers and those 
that bear double flowers." The wild kinds included 
"all the Pulsatillas, or Pasque (Easter) flowers." 
Parkinson mentions many varieties. He describes 
the "tame" anemones as white, yellow, purple, crim- 
son, scarlet, blush gredeline (between peach color 
and violet), orange-tawny, apple-blossom, rose- 
color, and many others. From his list we can have 
no doubt that Shakespeare's flower was one of the 
purple star anemones — the Anemone purpurea 
striata stellata^ "whose flowers have many white 
lines and stripes through the leaves." Parkinson's 
name is "the purple-striped Anemone." 

Of recent years anemones have again become the 
fashion. 

"How gorgeous are these flowers to behold," ex- 
claims Ryder Haggard, "with their hues of vivid 
scarlet and purple ! To be really appreciated, how- 
ever, they should, I think, be seen in their native 
home, the East. In the neighborhood of Mount 
Tabor in Palestine, I have met with them in such 
millions that for miles the whole plain is stained red, 
blue and white, growing so thickly indeed that to 
walk across it without setting foot on a flower at 
every step would be difficult. I believe, and I think 



136 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

that this view is very generally accepted, that these 
are the same lilies of the field that 'toil not neither 
do they spin,' which Our Lord used to illustrate His 
immortal lesson. Truly Solomon in all his glory 
was not arrayed like one of these." 

The Adonis flower (Flos Adonis) spoken of by 
Ben Jonson and others has nothing to do with the 
anemone. It is a kind of camomile. "Some have 
taken the red kind to be a kind of Anemone," says 
Parkinson. "The most usual name now with us is 
Flos Adorns. In English it is also called the May- 
weed and Rosarubie and Adonis Flower." 

HAREBELL (ScUla nutans)} The "azured 
harebell," which Shakespeare uses in "Cymbeline" 
for comparison with the delicate veins of Fidele 
{Imogen)^ has been identified as the English jacinth, 
blue harebell, or hare's-bell. Browne's "Pastorals" 
show that this flower was only worn by faithful 
lovers; and, therefore, the flower is most appro- 
priately selected for association with Imogen. 
Browne says: 

The Harebell, for her stainless, azured hue 
Claims to be worn of none but who are true. 

This flower is also called the "wild hyacinth." Blos- 
soming in May and June, it is one of the precious 

* See p. 207. 



THE SWEET O' THE YEAR" 137 

ornaments of English woods. "Dust of sapphire," its 
jewel-like flowers have been called. 

"Our English jacinth, or harebells," writes 
Parkinson, "is so common everywhere that it scarce 
needeth any description. It beareth divers long nar- 
row green leaves, not standing upright, not yet fully 
lying on the ground, among which springeth up the 
stalk, bearing at the top many long and hollow 
flowers, hanging down their heads, all forwards, for 
the most part, parted at the brims into six parts, 
turning up their points a little again, of a sweetish, 
but heady, scent, like unto the Grapeflower. The 
heads for seed are long and square, wherein is much 
black seed. The color of the flowers is in some of 
a deep blue tending to purple, in others of a paler 
blue, or of a bleak blue tending to an ash color. 
Some are pure white and some are parti-colored blue 
and white; and some are of a fine delayed purplish 
red, or bluish color, which some call a pearl color." 

VI 

Columbine and Broom-flower 

COLUMBINE {Aquilegia vulgaris). "There's 
fennel for you, and columbines," says Ophelia, as 
she hands the flowers to the courtiers.^ Shakespeare 

* "Hamlet"; Act IV, Scene V. 



138 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

also mentions the columbine in "Love's Labour 's 
Lost" ^ where Don Armado, the "fantastical Span- 
iard" (a caricature of a real person at Queen Eliza- 
beth's court), exclaims, "I am that flower," to which 
Dumain and Longueville reply in derision, "That 
mint! That columbine!" Of the columbine of 
Shakespeare's time, Parkinson says : 

"There be many sorts of Columbines as well 
differing in form as color of the flowers, and of them, 
both single and double, carefully nursed up in our 
gardens for the delight both of their forms and 
colors. The variety of the colors of these flowers 
are very much, for some are wholly white, some of a 
blue, or violet, color, others of a bluish, or flesh, 
color, or deep, or pale, red, or of a dead purple, or 
dead murrey color, as Nature listeth to show." 

The generic name is derived from the word aquila^ 
an eagle, because of the fancied resemblance of some 
parts of the flower to the talons of an eagle. The 
English name comes from the Latin columba^ a dove, 
from the likeness of its nectaries to the heads of 
doves in a ring around a dish, or to the figure of a 
dove hovering with expanded wings discovered by 
pulling off one petal with its detached sepals. Hence 
this was called the dove plant. From the belief that 

' Act V, Scene II. 



"THE SWEET O' THE YEAR" 139 

it was the favorite plant of the lion it was called 
Herba leonis. 

The columbine was valued for many medicinal 
virtues. 

"The scarlet and yellow columbine," writes 
Matthew, "is one of our most beautiful wild flowers. 
It is my experience that certain flowers have certain 
favorite haunts, which are exclusively held by them 
year after year. This flower is in its prime about 
the first of June, and is nearly always found beside 
some lichen-covered rock." 

The English and American flowers differ, al- 
though the early colonists brought the English 
flower with them. Grant Allen tells us : 

"The English columbine is a more developed type 
than the American scarlet, is never yellow in the 
wild state, but often purple, and, sometimes, blue. 
Larkspur, ranking still higher in the floral scale, in 
virtue of its singular bilateral blossoms, is usually 
blue, though it sometimes reverts to reddish-purple, 
or white ; while monkshood, the very top of the tree 
on this line of development, is usually deep ultra- 
marine, only a few species being prettily variegated 
with pale blue and white. As a rule, blue flowers 
are the very highest; and the reason seems to lie in 
the strange fact, first discovered by Sir John Lub- 



140 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

bock, that bees are fonder of blue than of any other 
color. Still, they are fond enough even of red ; and 
one may be sure that the change from yellow to 
scarlet in the petals of the American columbine is 
due in one way or another to the selective tastes and 
preferences of the higher insects." 

The colors of the American columbine are dark 
opaque blues, smoky purples, dull pinks, pale blues, 
lavenders, reds and yellows — an infinite variety! 

"The flowering of the 'Columbine Commendable,' 
as Skelton called it four hundred years ago," says 
Harriet L. Keeler, "marks the beginning of sum- 
m'er. The reign of the bulbs is over ; 

The windflower and the violet 
They perished long ago; 

the petals of the early roses are falling; the elder- 
blossoms show white along the fence rows; and the 
season waxes to its prime. 

"A wild flower of English fields, the columbine 
was early transferred into English gardens and has 
held its place securely there for at least five hun- 
dred years. Its seeds were among the treasures borne 
over the sea to the New World and it early bloomed 
in Pilgrim gardens. This primitive stock still per- 
sists in cultivation. 



"THE SWEET O' THE YEAR" 141 

"The flower of the columbine is a unique and in- 
teresting form. The sepals look like petals and 
the petals are veritable horns of plenty filled with 
nectar at the closed ends for the swarms of bees 
which gather about. The sweets are produced by 
the blossoms on a generous scale, and to a columbine 
bed in full bloom the bees come, big and little, noisy 
and silent — all giddy with the feast. There is no 
use trying to drive them away for they will not go. 
Clumsy bumble bees with tongues long enough to 
reach the honey by the open door, wise honey bees 
who have learned to take the short road to the 
nectar by biting through the spur, quiet brown bees, 
little green carpenters — all are there, 'vehement, 
voluble, velvety,' in a glorious riot of happiness and 
honey. 

"The doubling occurs chiefly with the petals; the 
sepals, as a rule, hold true to the five, but the petals 
sometimes double in number, becoming ten spurs in 
place of five, and each spur becomes a nest of spurs 
like a set of Chinese cups, though the innermost are 
frequently imperfect." 

The columbine frequently appears in the paint- 
ings of the Great Masters. Luini has immortalized 
it in his picture of this title now in the gallery of 
the Hermitage at Petrograd. A fascinating woman 



142 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

with a smile as enchanting — if not so famous — as 
Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" holds an ex- 
quisitely painted columbine in her left hand and 
gazes at it with tender, loving emotion. 

The early Italian and Flemish painters include 
the columbine with the rose, lily, pink, violet, straw- 
berry, and clover in the gardens where the Madonna 
sits with the Holy Child. The reason that the 
columbine was chosen as a flower of religious sym- 
bolism was because of the little doves formed by 
the five petals. The columbine signified the "Seven 
Gifts of the Holy Spirit," and the Flemish painters 
in their zeal for accuracy corrected the number of 
petals to seven to make the flower agree with the 
teaching of the Church. 

Yet although the columbine has these religious 
associations, we always think of it as an airy, 
piquant flower, the gay and irresponsible dancer of 
the rocks and dells, clad, as it were, in fantastic and 
parti-colored dress. Graceful in form and charm- 
ing in color, put together with extreme delicacy 
on slender, flexible, fragile stems and adorned with 
a leaf approaching that of the fern in delicacy and 
lace-like beauty, the columbine is one of the most 
delightful of flowers. Always associated with folly, 
we love it none the less for that, for there are times 



"THE SWEET O' THE YEAR" 143 

when we enjoy Harlequin and Columbine among 
our flowers, — and these fantastic and frivolous 
columbines dancing so gaily in the breeze always fill 
us with delight. 

BROOM {Cytisus scoparius). Although the 
broom was a popular plant in Elizabethan days it is 
only mentioned once by Shakespeare. In "The 
Tempest," ^ where Iris in the mask in her apostrophe 
to "Ceres, most bounteous lady," speaks of 

thy broom-groves 
Whose shadow the dismissed bachelor loves, 
Being lass-lorn . . . 

. . . the queen o' the sky . . . 
Bids thee leave these. 

When in blossom the broom is lovely to look upon. 
The large yellow flowers are gracefully arranged on 
the branches, and its perfume is delightful. 

"Sweet is the Broome-flower !" exclaims Spenser. 
The broom is the Planta genesta^ from which the 
Plantagenets took their name. The flower, having 
become heraldic during that dynasty, was embroid- 
ered on the clothes of the Plantagenet family and 
imitated in their jewels. When they died it was 
carved on their monuments. The story goes that 
Geoffrey, Earl of Anjou, father of Henry II of 

* Act IV, Scene I. 



144 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

England, once on his way to a field of battle, had to 
climb a rocky path, and he noticed as he went along 
the bushes of yellow broom clinging to the rocks. 
Breaking off a branch he placed it in his helmet 
with the words: "This golden plant shall be my 
emblem henceforth. Rooted firmly among rocks and 
upholding that which is ready to fall." His son, 
Henry, was called "the royal sprig of Genesta." 
The golden plume of broom-flowers was worn by 
the Plantagenets until the last one of the line. Rich- 
ard III, lost the Crown of England to Henry VII, 
the first of the Tudors. 

In 1264 the Plant a genesta was honored by St. 
Louis, who instituted the Order of Genest on his 
marriage with Marguerite. The Knights of the 
Genest wore chains made of the broom-flower alter- 
nating with the fleur-de-lis. Shakespeare speaks of 
a "broom-staff" and sends Puck 

with broom before 
To sweep the dust behind the door. 

Whether Puck's broom was made from the Genesta 
or not we do not know; but we do know that the 
broom, in common with other briars, was used to 
make besoms for sweeping and also for staffs to walk 
with and to lean upon. 



Summer 

"SWEET SUMMER BUDS" 



"Morning Roses Newly Washed with Dew** 

THE ROSE (Rosa). Shakespeare speaks of 
the rose more frequently than any other 
flower. Sixty references to the rose are 
scattered through his works. Sometimes he talks of 
the rose itself and sometimes he uses the word to 
make a striking comparison, or analogy. With 
magical touch he gives us the bold picture of a 
Red rose on triumphant briar, 

then he brings before us a delicious whiff of the 
Perfumed tincture of the roses, 

or the luscious fragrance of 

Morning roses newly washed with dew. 
With equal delicacy of perception he tells us 

So sweet a kiss the golden sun gives not 
To those fresh morning drops upon the rose.* 

'"Love's Labour's Lost"; Act IV, Scene IIL 

145 



146 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

Shakespeare's special roses are the Red, the White, 
the Musk, the Eglantine (sweetbrier), the Pro- 
ven9al, or Provins, the Damask, the Canker, and the 
Variegated. 

THE RED ROSE {Rose Anglica rubra), the 
English red, is thus described by Parkinson: 

"The Red Rose, which I call English because this 
rose is more frequent and used in England than in 
other places, never groweth so high as the Damask 
Rose-bush, but more usually abideth low and 
shooteth forth many branches from the Rose-bush 
(and is but seldom suffered to grow up as the 
Damask Rose into standards) with a green bark 
thinner set with prickles and longer and greener 
leaves on the upper side than in the white, yet with 
an eye of white upon them, five likewise most 
usually set upon a stalk and grayish, or whitish, un- 
derneath. The Roses, or flowers, do very much vary 
according to their site and abiding, for some are of 
an orient red, or deep crimson, color and very double 
(although never so double as the White), which, 
when it is full blown, hath the largest leaves of any 
other Rose; some of them again are paler, tending 
somewhat to a Damask; and some are of so pale a 
red as that it is rather of the color of a Canker Rose, 
yet all for the most part with larger leaves than 



"SWEET SUMMER BUDS" 147 

the Damask, and with many more yellow threads in 
the middle. The scent hereof is much better than 
in the White, but not comparable to the excellency 
of the Damask Rose, yet this Rose, being well dried 
and well kept, will hold both color and scent longer 
than the Damask." 

THE WHITE ROSE (Rosa Anglica alba). 

"The White Rose is of two kinds," says Parkin- 
son, "the one more thick and double than the other. 
The one riseth up in some shadowy places unto eight 
or ten foot high, with a stock of great bigness for a 
rose. The other growing seldom higher than a 
Damask Rose. Both these Roses have somewhat 
smaller and whiter green leaves than in many other 
Roses, five most usually set on a stock and more 
white underneath, as also a whiter green bark, armed 
with sharp thorns, or prickles. The flowers in the 
one are whitish with an eye, or shew, of a blush, 
especially towards the ground, or bottom, of the 
flower, very thick, double and close set together; 
and, for the most part, not opening itself so largely 
and fully as either the Red, or Damask Rose. The 
other more white, less thick and double and opening 
itself more, and some so little double (as but of two 
or three rows) that they might be held to be single, 
yet all of little or no smell at all." 



148 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

From this Rosa alba^ Pliny says, the isle of Albion 
derived its name — a happy thought when we remem- 
ber that the rose is still the national emblem of 
England. 

MUSK-ROSE {Rosa moschata). Musk-roses and 
eglantine mingled with honeysuckle formed the 
canopy beneath which Titania slumbered on a bank 
made soft and lovely with wild thyme, oxlips and 
nodding violets. And in the "coronet of fresh and 
fragrant flowers" that the dainty little fairy queen 
placed upon the hairy temples of Bottom the 
Weaver, musk-roses were conspicuous; and the 
sweetness of these was intensified by "the round and 
Orient pearls of dew" that swelled upon the petals, 
as the "pretty flowerets bewailed their own dis- 
grace." 

It is this delicious rose which Keats, when listen- 
ing to the nightingale, sensed rather than visualized 
in the twilight dimness : 

The coming musk-rose full of dewy wine, 
The murmurous haunt of flies on summer eves. 

The musk-rose was adored by the Elizabethans. 
Lord Bacon considered its scent to come next to 
that of the violet, and before all other flowers. 
"You remember the great bush at the corner of 



"SWEET SUMMER BUDS" 149 

the south wall just by the Blue Drawing-room win- 
dow?' writes Mrs. Gaskell in "My Lady Ludlow." 
"That is the old musk-rose, Shakespeare's musk-rose, 
which is dying out through the kingdom now. The 
scent is unlike the scent of any other rose, or of any 
other flower." 

The musk-rose is a native of North Africa, Spain, 
and India (Nepal). Hakluyt in 1582 gave the date 
of its introduction into England. "The turkey-cocks 
and hens," he says, "were brought in about fifty 
years past; the Artichoke in the time of Henry the 
Eighth ; and of later times was procured out of Italy 
the Musk Rose plant and the Plum called Perdig- 
wena." 

Turning now to Parkinson and opening his big 
volume at the page "Rosa Moschata, simple and 
multiplex," we read: 

"The Musk Rose, both single and double, rises 
up oftentimes to a very great height that it over- 
groweth any arbor in a Garden, or being set by a 
house side to be ten or twelve foot high, or more, 
but especially the single kind with many green far 
spread branches armed with a few sharp great 
thorns, as the wilder sorts of Roses are, whereof 
these are accounted to be kinds, having small dark 
green leaves on them, not much bigger than the 



150 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

leaves of Eglantines. The Flowers come forth at 
the tops of the branches, many together as it were 
in an umbel, or tuft, which, for the most part, do 
flower all at a time, or not long one after another, 
every one standing on a pretty long stalk and are of 
a pale whitish, or cream color, both the single and 
the double, the single being small flowers consisting 
of five leaves with many yellow threads in the mid- 
dle; and the double bearing more double flowers, 
as if they were once or twice more double than the 
single, with yellow thrums also in the middle, both 
of them of a very sweet and pleasing smell, re- 
sembling musk. Some there be that have avouched 
that the chief scent of these Roses consisteth not in 
the leaves but in the threads of the Flowers." 

The color of the musk-rose is white, slightly 
tinged with pink. 

EGLANTINE; also SWEETBRIER (Rosa 
eglanteria). This is a conspicuous adornment of 
Titanid s bower, and is as remarkable for its beauty 
as for its scent. The pink flowers with their golden 
threads in the center are familiar to every one. 

"The Sweet Briar, or Eglantine," Parkinson 
writes, "is not only planted in Gardens for the sweet- 
ness of its leaves, but growing wild in many woods 
and hedges, hath exceeding long green shoots armed 



"SWEET SUMMER BUDS" 151 

with the cruellest sharp and strong thorns and 
thicker set than is in any Rose, either wild or tame. 
The leaves are smaller than in most of those that 
are nourished up in Gardens, seven or nine, most 
usually set together on a rib, or stalk, very green and 
sweeter in smell about the leaves of any other kind 
of Rose. The flowers are small, single, blush 
Roses." 

PROVENCAL, OR PROVINS {Centi folia). This 
old-fashioned cabbage-rose of globular flowers, mas- 
sive foliage, hard knob of leaves in the center, and 
sweet perfume is affectionately known as the "Hun- 
dred Leaf," or rose a cent feuilles. Parkinson gives 
two varieties: the incarnate, or flesh-color; and the 
red. 

In our country the light pink, or incarnate, is the 
more familiar. What associations does it not con- 
jure up^ To many of us Dean Hole's words make 
a touching appeal : 

"The blushing, fresh, fragrant Provence I It was 
to many of us the Rose of our childhood and its 
delicious perfume passes through the outer sense into 
our hearts gladdening them with bright and happy 
dreams, saddening them with love and child awaken- 
ings. It brings more to us than the fairness and 
sweet smell of a Rose. We passed in our play to 



152 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

gaze on it with the touch of a vanished hand in ours, 
with a father's blessing on our heads and a mother's 
prayer that we might never lose our love of the beau- 
tiful. Happy they who return, or regain, that love." 

THE DAMASK ROSE {Rosa damascena) is a 
native of Syria, whence it was brought to Europe 
about 1270 by Thibault IV, Comte de Brie, return- 
ing from the Holy Land. We know exactly when 
it was introduced into England because Hakluyt, 
writing in 1582, says: "In time of memory many 
things have been brought in that were not here be- 
fore, as the Damask Rose by Doctor Liniker, King 
Henry the Seventh and King Henry the Eighth's 
physician." 

"Gloves as sweet as Damask Roses" Autolycus 
carries in his peddler's pack for "lads to give their 
dears," along with masks for their faces, perfume, 
necklace-amber, pins, quoifs, and "lawn as white as 
driven snow." ^ 

Parkinson informs us: 

"The Damask Rose-bush is more usually nour- 
ished up to a competent height to stand alone (which 
we call Standards), than any other Rose. The bark, 
both of the stock and branches, is not fully so green 
as the Red or White Rose. The leaves are green 

*"The Winter's Tale"; Act IV, Scene III. 



''SWEET SUMMER BUDS" 153 

with an eye of white upon them. The flowers are 
of a fine deep blush color, as all know, with some 
pale yellow threads in the middle, and are not so 
thick and double as the White, not being blown with 
so large and great leaves as the Red, but of the 
most excellent sweet pleasant scent, far surpassing 
all other Roses or Flowers, being neither heady, nor 
too strong, nor stuffing or unpleasant sweet, as many 
other flowers. 

"The Rose is of exceeding great use with us, for 
the Damask Rose (besides the superexcellent sweet 
water it yieldeth, being distilled, or the perfume of 
its leaves, being dried, serving to fill sweet bags) 
serveth to cause solubleness of the body, made into 
a syrup, or preserved with sugar, moist or candied." 
The name is obviously from Damascus. 

CANKER {Rosa canind). This is the wild dog- 
rose common to many countries. The name dog- 
rose was given to it by the Romans, because the root 
was said to cure the bite of a mad dog. Pliny says 
the remedy was discovered in a dream by the mother 
of a soldier who had been bitten by a mad dog. Don 
Juan's remark in "Much Ado About Nothing." ^ 

I had rather be a canker in the hedge 
Than a rose in his garden, 

* Act I, Scene III. 



154 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

refers, of course, to the canker-rose. According to 
legend, the Crown of Thorns was made from the 
briers of this variety of rose. 

VARIEGATED ROSE (Rosa versicolor) of 
Shakespeare's plays is the curious bush which pro- 
duces at the same time red roses, white roses, and 
roses of red mottled with white and of white mottled 
with red. The growth of the tree is stiff and erect 
and the flowers have a sweet scent. The rose is often 
called the "York and Lancaster." Parkinson says: 

"This Rose in the form and order of the growing 
is nearest unto the ordinary Damask Rose both for 
stem, branch, leaf and flower, the difference con- 
sisting in this— that the flower (being of the same 
largeness and doubleness as the Damask Rose) hath 
the one half of it sometimes of a pale whitish color 
and the other half of a paler damask color than the 
ordinary. This happeneth so many times, and some- 
times also the flower hath divers stripes and marks 
on it, one leaf white, or striped with white, and the 
other half blush, or striped with blush, sometimes 
all striped, or spotted over, and at other times little 
or no stripes, or marks, at all, as Nature listeth to 
play with varieties in this as in other flowers. Yet 
this I have observed, that the longer it abideth blown 
open to the sun, the paler and the fewer stripes. 



"SWEET SUMMER BUDS" 155 

marks, or spots will be seen in it. The smell is of a 
weak Damask Rose scent." 

This rose recalls the old song of a "Lover to His 
Lancastrian Mistress," on handing her a white rose : 

If this fair rose offend thy sight, 

Placed in thy bosom bare, 
'T will blush to find itself less white, 

And turn Lancastrian there, 

But if thy ruby lip it spy. 

As kiss it thou mayst deign. 
With envy pale 't will lose its dye, 

And Yorkish turn again. 

In his play of "King Henry VI," which passes dur- 
ing the Wars of the Roses, Shakespeare introduces 
the noted scene in the Temple Garden, London, 
where the emblem of the Yorkists (a white rose) 
and that of the Lancastrians (a red rose) is chosen. 
Richard Plantagenet plucks a white rose and the 
Earl of Somerset a red rose from rose-bushes that 
are still growing and blooming in the same spot, as 
they did when Shakespeare imagined the scene in 
"King Henry VI." ^ 

In Shakespeare's day the rose was enormously 
cultivated. In the gardens of Ely Place, the home 
of Queen Elizabeth's dashing lord chancellor, 

'Part I, Act II, Scene IV. 



156 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

twenty bushels of roses were gathered annually — a 
good deal for the time. 

"About thirty species of roses," writes Edmund 
Gosse, "were known to the Elizabethan gardeners, 
and most of them did particularly well in London 
until in the reign of James I, when the increasing 
smoke of coal-fires exterminated the most lovely and 
the most delicate species, the double yellow rose. 
Things grew rapidly worse in this respect, until 
Parkinson in despair, cried out : 'Neither herb, nor 
tree, will prosper since the use of sea-coal.' Up to 
that time in London, and afterwards in country- 
places, the rose preserved its vogue. It was not 
usually grown for pleasure, since the petals had a 
great commercial value; there was a brisk trade in 
dried roses and a precious sweet water was distilled 
from the damask rose. The red varieties of the rose 
were considered the best medicinally, and they pro- 
duced that rose syrup which was so widely used both 
as a cordial and as an aperient. The fashion for 
keeping potpourri in dwelling-rooms became so 
prevalent that the native gardens could not supply 
enough, and dried yellow roses became a recognized 
import from Constantinople. We must think of the 
parlors of the ladies who saw Shakespeare's plays 



"SWEET SUMMER BUDS" 157 

performed for the first time as all redolent with the 
perfume of dried, spiced and powdered rose-leaves." 
In "Sonnet LIV" Shakespeare says: 

The rose looks fair, but fairer it we deem 

For that sweet odor which doth in it live. 

The canker-blooms have full as deep a dye 

As the perfumed tincture of the roses, 

Hang on such thorns and play as wantonly 

When summer's breath their masked buds discloses. 

But, for their virtue only is their show, 

They live unwoo'd, and unrespected fade ; 

Die to themselves. Sweet roses do not so; 

Of their sweet deaths are sweetest odors made. 

For twenty-seven centuries — and more — the rose 
has been considered queen of flowers. Her perfume, 
her color, her elegance, and her mystic fascination 
have won all hearts. Shakespeare says : "A rose by 
any other name would smell as sweet." In one sense 
that is true; but we would not be willing to try an- 
other title, for the very word rose is a beautiful one 
and conjures up a particular and very special vision 
of sweetness and beauty. 

Thousands and thousands of poems have been 
written in praise of this flower, ever since Sappho 
sang to her lyre the words "Ho I the rose I Ho I the 
rose !" 



158 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

Sir Henry Wotton wrote : 

You Violets that first appear. 
By your pure purple mantles known, 
Like the proud virgins of the year, 
As if the Spring were all your own. 
What are you when the Rose is blown ? 

And Hood sang : 

The Cowslip is a country wench; 

The Violet is a nun; 
But I will woo the dainty Rose 

The queen of every one. 

And Shelley: 

And the rose, like a nymph to the bath addrest, 
Which unveiled the depths of her glowing breast. 
Till, fold after fold, to the fainting air, 
The soul of her beauty and love laid bare. 

Shelley's "fold after fold" reminds us that Ruskin 
points out that one of the rose's beauties is that her 
petals make shadows over and over again of their 
own loveliness. 

Dr. Forbes Watson has, perhaps, been the most 
successful of all writers in putting into words the 
reasons why the rose has such power over mankind : 

"The flower has something almost human about 
it — warm, breathing, soft as the fairest cheek; of 
white, no longer snowy like the narcissus, but flushed 



"SWEET SUMMER BUDS" 159 

with hues of animating pink; either flower, white 
or red, being alike symbolical of glowing, youthful 
passion." 

In the East the rose gardens have been famed for 
centuries. The flower is said to burst into bloom at 
the voice of the nightingale. The poet Jami says : 
"You may place a handful of fragrant herbs of 
flowers before the nightingale, yet he wishes not in 
his constant heart for more than the sweet breath of 
his beloved rose." It is said that an Arabian doctor 
discovered the recipe for rose-water in the Tenth 
Century; but the perfume may be older than that. 
The Rosa centifolia is the blossom used. The In- 
dians and Persians have known how to make their 
attar of rose for centuries. 

A large volume would be required to chronicle the 
romance of the rose, for it is the flower of love, 
beauty, and poetry. It is dedicated to Venus, and 
Venus is frequently represented as wearing a crown 
of roses. Her son, Eros or Cupid, is also wreathed 
and garlanded with roses. Cupid gave a rose to 
Harpocrates, god of silence — hence the rose is also 
the symbol of silence. "Under the rose," a saying 
that expresses silence and secrecy, is derived from 
this legend, A siren holding a rose stands among 
the sculptured ruins of Paestum. Roses and myrtle 



i6o THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

adorned the brides of Greece and Rome. The pro- 
fusion of roses used for decorations at feasts astounds 
us even to-day. No epicure was satisfied with the 
cup of Falernian wine unless it were perfumed with 
roses; and the Spartan soldiers at the Battle of 
Cirrha actually refused wine because it was not per- 
fumed with roses. This makes us wonder if those 
Spartan mothers, of whom we hear so much, were 
really as severe as they are reputed to have been. Red 
roses were dedicated to Jupiter; damask roses to 
Venus ; and white roses to Diana or the moon. The 
rose was given to the Virgin Mary as her particular 
flower; and many Italian painters as well as Flem- 
ish, Spanish, and German, have painted the Ma- 
donna of the Rose, the Madonna of the Rose-hedge, 
the Madonna of the Rose-bush, and the Madonna 
of the Rose-garden, The rosary, introduced by St. 
Dominick in commemoration of his having been 
shown a chaplet of roses by the Virgin, originally 
consisted of rose-leaves pressed into balls. 

II 

"Lilies of All Kinds'' ./ 

THE LILY {Lilium candidum). The fact that 
Perdita calls for "lilies of all kinds" shows that 



"SWEET SUMMER BUDS" . 161 

Shakespeare loved one of the most beautiful families 
of flowers that grace the earth, and knew the many 
varieties that grew in the English gardens of his 
day, which include the Lily-of-the-Valley (in his 
time called Lily Conally) ; the splendid yellow lilies; 
the red martagon and spotted martagon (tiger- 
lilies) ; as well as the pure white lily. Parkinson, 
who writes so beautifully of plants and blossoms, 
did not neglect the lily. He says: "The lily is 
the most stately flower among many," and he directs 
attention "to the wonderful variety of lilies known 
to us in these days, much more so than in former 
times." 

First on the list comes the white lily, which has 
always been regarded from time immemorial as the 
most beautiful member of this most beautiful 
family, a picture of purity with its white silken 
petals exquisitely set off by the yellow anthers and 
breathing such delicious fragrance. This is the lily 
of which Shelley sings : 

And the wand-like Hly, which lifteth up 
As a Maenad, its moonlight colored cup, 
Till the fiery star which is its eye 
Gazed through clear dew on the tender sky. 

"The ordinary White Lily, Lilzum candidum^^ 
writes Parkinson, "scarce needeth any description, 



i62 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

it is so well known and so frequent in every garden. 
The stalk is of a blackish green color, having many 
fair broad and long green leaves. The flower stands 
upon long green footstalks, of a fair white color, 
with a long pointell in the middle and white chives 
tipt with yellow pendants about it. The smell is 
something heady and strong. It is called Lilium 
alburn^ the White Lily, by most writers; but by 
poets, Rosa Junonis, Juno's Rose." 

How perfect is this flower ! Texture, form, hue, 
sheen, perfume — all express exquisite loveliness. 
The lily refreshes us with its cool beauty and its 
purity and lifts our thoughts upward to heaven. 

Gerard describes eight lilies in his "Herbal" 
(1597), all of which were known to Shakespeare. 
Certainly among Ferdita's flowers was the martagon, 
which takes its name from the Italian martagone^ 
meaning a Turk's turban. This lily is also called 
"Chalcedonian" and "Scarlet martagon" and 
"Turk's Cap," by Parkinson, who tells us that the 
"Lilium rubrum Byzantinum Martagon Constan- 
tinopolitanum, or the red martagon of Constanti- 
nople, is become so common everywhere and so well 
known to all lovers of these delights that I shall 
seem unto them to lose time to bestow many lines 
upon it; yet because it is so fair a flower and was 



"SWEET SUMMER BUDS" 163 

at the first so highly esteemed, it deserveth its place 
and commendations. It riseth out of the ground 
bearing a round, brownish stalk, beset with many 
fair green leaves confusedly thereon, but not so 
broad as the common White Lily, upon the top 
whereof stand one, two, or three, or more, flowers 
upon long footstalks, which hang down their heads 
and turn up their leaves again, of an excellent red 
crimson color and sometimes paler, having a long 
pointel in the middle compassed with whitish chives, 
tipt with loose yellow pendants, of a reasonable good 
scent, but somewhat faint. We have another of this 
kind, the Red Spotted Martagon of Constantinople, 
that groweth somewhat greater and higher with a 
larger flower, and of a deeper color, spotted with 
divers black spots, or streaks, and lines, as is to be 
seen in Mountain Lilies." 

The martagon belongs to the tiger-lily class, 
whose characteristics have been so imaginatively 
brought out by Thomas Bailey Aldrich : 

I like the chaliced lilies, 
The heavy Eastern lilies, 
The gorgeous tiger-lilies, 
That in our garden grow. 

For they are tall and slender; 

Their mouths are dashed with carmine, 



i64 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

And when the wind sweeps by them, 

On their emerald stalks 

They bend so proud and graceful, — 

They are Circassian women, 

The favorites of the Sultan, 

Adown our garden walks. 

And when the rain is falling, 

I sit beside the window 

And watch them glow and glisten, — 

How they burn and glow ! 

O for the burning lilies. 

The tender Eastern lilies 

The gorgeous tiger-lilies," 

That in our garden grow. 

Shakespeare has many beautiful passages concern- 
ing the lily. He often refers to its whiteness. He 
considers it as impossible a task "to paint the lily" 
as it is "to gild refined gold," or "to throw a per- 
fume on the violet." 

How the lily was loved by the ancients! The 
Egyptians adored it; the Persians named cities for 
it; the Hebrews worshiped it. The Greeks and 
Romans called the lily Juno's flower, and fancied 
that the flower owed its very existence to drops of 
milk spilled on earth from Juno's white breast when 
she was nursing the infant Hercules. 

The church consecrated the lily to the Virgin 
Mary. It was her flower as Queen of Heaven. In 



"SWEET SUMMER BUDS" 165 

many old religious paintings of the Annunciation, 
the Angel Gabriel, appearing before the Virgin, 
usually holds the "Annunciation Lily," or "Ma- 
donna Lily" in his hand. Joseph's staff was said to 
have blossomed into lilies, and it is the white lily 
that is usually represented in this connection. 

Wonderful family this lily tribe, flowers of the 
grand style and haughty demeanor I Ruskin en- 
lightens us as to why it is every one loves them and 
why they are entwined with many of our thoughts 
of art and life : 

"Under the name of Drosid^ come plants delight- 
ing in interrupted moisture — moisture which comes 
either partially, or at certain seasons — into dry 
ground. They are not water-plants, but the signs 
of water resting among dry places. In the Drosida 
the floral spirit passes into the calix also, and the 
entire flower becomes a six-rayed star, bursting out 
of the stem laterally, as if it were the first of flowers 
and had made its way to the light by force through 
the unwilling green. They are often required to 
retain moisture, or nourishment, for the future blos- 
som through long times of drought; and this they 
do in bulbs underground, of which some become a 
rude and simple, but most wholesome food for man. 

"Then the Drosida are divided into five great 



i66 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

orders — lilies, asphodels, amaryllis, irids and rushes. 
No tribes of flowers have had so great, so varied, or 
so healthy an influence on man as this great group 
of Drosidcz^ depending not so much on the white- 
ness of some of their blossoms, or the radiance of 
others, as on the strength and delicacy of the sub- 
stance of their petals; enabling them to take forms 
of faultless, elastic curvature, either in cups, as the 
Crocus, or expanding bells, as the true Lily, or heath- 
like bells, as the Hyacinth, or bright and perfect 
stars, like the Star of Bethlehem, or, when they are 
affected by the strange reflex of the serpent nature 
which forms the labiate group of all flowers, clos- 
ing into forms of exquisitely fantastic symmetry as 
the Gladiolus. Put by their side their Nereid sisters, 
the Water-lilies, and you have in them the origin 
of the loveliest forms of ornamental design and the 
most powerful floral myths yet recognized among 
human spirits, born by the streams of the Ganges, 
Nile, Arno and Avon. 

"For consider a little what each of those five 
tribes has been to the spirit of man. First, in their 
nobleness ; the Lilies gave the Lily of the Annuncia- 
tion; the Asphodels, the flower of the Elysian 
Fields; the Irids, the fleur-de-lys of chivalry; and 
the Amaryllis, Christ's lily of the fields; while the 



"SWEET SUMMER BUDS" 167 

Rush, trodden always under foot, became the 
emblem of humility. Then take each of the tribes 
and consider the extent of their lower influence. 
Perditds 'the Crown Imperial, lilies of all kinds? 
are the first tribe, which, giving the type of perfect 
purity in the Madonna's Lily, have, by their lovely 
form, influenced the entire decorative design of Ital- 
ian sacred art; while ornament of war was con- 
tinually enriched by the curves of the triple petals of 
the Florentine 'giglio' and the French fleur-de-lys; 
so that it is impossible to count their influence for 
good in the Middle Ages, partly as a symbol of 
womanly character and partly of the utmost bright- 
ness and refinement in the city which was the 'flower 
of cities.' " 

Astrologers placed the lily under the moon; and 
the flower is certainly dreamy enough and celestial 
enough to be under the rule of Diana, or Astarte. 

Ill 

Crown-Imperial and Flower-de-luce 

THE CROWN-IMPERIAL {Fritillaria im- 
peralis) is mentioned by Perdita. A native of 
Persia, Afghanistan, and Kashmir, it was taken to 
Constantinople, and thence to Vienna in 1576. 



i68 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

Finally it came to England with other luxuries of 
the Renaissance. Gerard had it in his garden, and 
describes it as follows: 

"Out of a tuft of narrow leaves the stem rises 
and terminates in a second tuft immediately below 
which is a ring of large tulip-like flowers, pendulous 
and golden yellow. Looking into the bells at the 
base of every petal is a white and concave nectary 
from which hangs a drop of honey that shines like 
a pearl. In the bottom of each of the bells there 
is placed six drops of most clear shining water, in 
taste like sugar resembling in shew fair Orient 
pearls, the which drops if you take away there do 
immediately appear the like. Notwithstanding if 
they may be suffered to stand still in the flower ac- 
cording to his own nature, they will never fall away, 
no, not if you strike the plant until it be broken." 

The Crown-Imperial was, perhaps, of all choice 
"outlandish flowers" the choicest. Parkinson gives 
it the first place in the Garden of Delight, opening 
his great book, "Paradisus Terrestris," with an ac- 
count of it : 

"The Crown Imperial," he writes, "for his stately 
beautifulness deserveth the first place in this our 
Garden of Delight. The stalk riseth up three, or 
four, foot high, being great, round and of a 




MARTAGON LILIES, WARLEY, ENGLAND 



"SWEET SUMMER BUDS" 169 

purplish color at the bottom, but green above, beset 
from thence to the middle thereof with many long 
and broad green leaves of our ordinary white lily, 
but somewhat shorter and narrower, confusedly 
without order, and from the middle is bare, or naked, 
without leaves for a certain space upwards, and then 
beareth four, six, or ten flowers, more or less, accord- 
ing to the age of the plant and the fertility of the 
soil where it groweth. The buds at the first appear- 
ing are whitish, standing upright among a bush, or 
tuft, of green leaves, smaller than those below and 
standing above the flowers. After a while they turn 
themselves and hang downward every one upon his 
own footstalk, round about the great stem, or stalk, 
sometimes of an even depth and other while one 
lower, or higher, than another, which flowers are 
near the form of an ordinary Lily, yet somewhat 
lesser and closer, consisting of six leaves of an 
orange-color striped with purplish lines and veins, 
which add a great grace to the flowers. At the bot- 
tom of the flower, next unto the stalk, every leaf 
thereof hath on the outside a certain bunch, or 
eminence, of a dark purplish color, and on the inside 
there lieth in those hollow bunched places certain 
clear drops of water like unto pearls, of a very sweet 
taste, almost like sugar. In the midst of each flower 



lyo THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

is a long white stile, or pointell, forked, or divided, 
at the end and six white chives, tipt with yellowish 
pendants, standing close above it. After the flowers 
are past, appear six square seed vessels, standing 
upright, winged as it were, or weltered on the edges, 
yet seeming but three-square, because each couple 
of those welted edges are joined closer together, 
wherein are contained broad, flat and thin seeds of a 
pale brownish color, like unto other lilies, but much 
greater and thicker also. 

"This plant was first brought from Constantinople 
into these Christian countries, and, by relation of 
some that sent it, groweth naturally in Persia. It 
flowereth most commonly in the end of March, if 
the weather be mild, and springeth not out of the 
ground until the end of February, or beginning of 
March, so quick it is in the springing. The head 
with seeds are ripe in the end of May, It is of some 
called Lilium Ferticum, or Persian Lily; but be- 
cause we have another, which is more usually called 
by that name, I had rather, with Alphonsus Pancius, 
the Duke of Florence, his physician (who first sent 
the figure thereof unto Mr. John de Brancion) call 
it Corona Imperialism the Crown Imperial." 

There is a legend that the Crown-Imperial grew 
in the garden of Gethsemane, where it was often 



"SWEET SUMMER BUDS" 171 

admired by Jesus Christ. At that time, according 
to the story, the flowers were white and erect on the 
stalk. During the night of the agony when Our 
Lord passed through the garden, this flower was the 
only one that did not bow its head. Later the proud 
flower bent its head and tears of sorrow filled its cup. 
Ever since that time the plant has continued to bow 
in sorrow and its tears flow forever. 

Dr. Forbes Watson loves the flower with its "bold, 
decided outlines." His description is all too short. 
"The tall stem," he says, "rises like a mast through 
the lower leaves, is thence for a short space bare till 
it is topped by the crowning sheaf of leaf-swords, 
out of which droop so gracefully the large yellow 
wax-like bells. Here every line seems to pierce like 
an arrow, the composition is so clear and masterly." 

The Crown-Imperial appears in the celebrated 
book called "Guirlande de Julie," which the Due de 
Montausier gave on New Year's Day, 1634, to his 
bride, Julie de Rambouillet. This was a magnifi- 
cent album: every leaf bore a beautifully painted 
flower and a verse descriptive of it or in praise 
of it contributed by different artists and poets. 
Chapelain chose the Crown-Imperial for his theme, 
pretending that it sprang from the blood of Gustavus 
Adolphus of Sweden, who, not being able to offer 



172 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

his hand to Julie, came to her in the guise of this 
flower. 

FLOWER-DE-LUCE {Iris pseudacorus), Per- 
i dila's mention of "lilies of all kinds, the flower-de- 
/i luce being one," shows that Shakespeare classed this 
flower among the lilies. So did the botanists of his 
time. Symbol of eloquence and power, the Egyp- 
tians placed the purple iris upon the brow of the 
Sphinx. The scepter of their monarchs was adorned 
with this flower, its three petals representing faith, 
wisdom, and valor. The kings of Babylon and 
Assyria also bore it on their scepters. The Greeks 
laid the iris on the tombs of women because they 
believed that Iris guided dead women to the Elysian 
Fields. Although the iris was also dedicated to 
Juno, it is more particularly the flower of Iris, lovely 
Iris, one of the beautiful Oceanides, daughters of 
Ocean, and messenger of the gods, who whenever she 
wished to descend upon the earth threw her rainbow 
scarf across the sky and with all its prismatic colors 
glistening in her perfumed wings descended from 
heaven to earth upon the graceful bow that joins 
the seen and the unseen worlds. The purple, yel- 
low, orange, and blue tints of the rainbow live again 
in the petals and drooping lips called "falls." What 



"SWEET SUMMER BUDS" 173 

a flower of charm, mystery, and majesty! Sphinx 
of the flower world I The iris was extremely popu- 
lar in Shakespeare's day. Parkinson gives a great 
many "Flower-de-luces, or Iris" in his monumental 
work. We find "the Purple, the Blue, the Purple- 
striped, the Peach-colored, the White, the White- 
striped, the Parti-colored, the Milk- White, the Sil- 
ver color, the White with Yellow Falls, the Straw 
color, the Spanish Yellow, the Purple and Yellow, 
the Purple or Murrey, the Great Turkic, the Com- 
mon Purple, the Great Dalmatian, the Yellow of 
Tripoli, the Double Blew, the Double Purple, the 
Purple Dwarf," and many others which prove how 
popular this flower was in Tudor and Stuart gar- 
dens, and what splendid specimens were known to 
the people of Shakespearian times. Parkinson also 
adds: "The dried root called Orris is of much use 
to make sweet powders, or other things, to perfume 
apparel or linen." 

The fleur-de-lis early became the symbol of 
France. At the proclamation of a new king the 
Franks always placed a living flower, or flag, as it 
was called, in his hand as the symbol of power. Be- 
cause his wife, St. Clotilde, had a vision of the iris, 
Clovis erased the three frogs on his shield and sub- 



174 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

stituted the iris. In consequence also of a dream, 
Louis VII took the iris for his device in 1 137, from 
which it became known as the fleur de Louis, later 
contracted into fleur-de-lys and fleur-de-lis. When 
Edward III claimed the crown of France in 1340, 
he quartered the old French shield bearing the fleur- 
de-lis with his English lion. The iris, or flower-de- 
luce (as the English wrote it), did not disappear 
from the English coat of arms until 1801. 

Shakespeare speaks of the fleur-de-lis in the Mes' 
sengers speech in "King Henry VI" : ^ \ 

Awake, awake, English nobility! 
Let not sloth dim your honors new begot: 
Cropp'd are the flower-de-luces in your arms ; 
Of England's coat one half is cut away. 

And again in the same play : ^ 

La Pucelle. I am prepared: here is my keen-edged sword, 
Deck'd with fine flower-de-luces on each side. 

In "The Merry Wives of Windsor" ^ there is a 
humorous play upon words regarding the heraldic 
use of "the flower-de-luce." 

*Part I, Act I, Scene I. 
'Part I, Act I, Scene II. 
'Act I, Scene I. 



"SWEET SUMMER BUDS" 175 

IV 

Fern and Honeysuckle 

THE FERN {Pteris aquilina), with its graceful 
and beautifully indented leaves and its peculiar 
acrid scent, delicious to many persons, would be ad- 
mitted into the Shakespeare garden because of its 
fantastic qualities, even if its beauty did not sue 
for recognition. The fern is a fairy plant. Accord- 
ing to folk-lore it always blossomed at twelve o'clock 
on St. John's eve (June 21), Midsummer night. 
The flower is described as a wonderful globe of 
sapphire blue (according to other stories a ruby 
red) ; and in a few moments after its blossoming the 
seed appeared. Oberon^ the fairy king, was sup- 
posed to watch for the precious seed so that he might 
prevent mortals from obtaining it; but any one 
fortunate enough to gather fern-seed would be under 
the protection of spirits, and would be enabled to 
realize all his fondest desires. Furthermore, any 
one who wore the fern-seed about him would be in- 
visible. Shakespeare was familiar with this super- 
stition, for he makes Gad skill exclaim in "King 
Henry IV": ^ "We steal as in a castle, cock-sure: 

'Part I, Act II, Scene I. 



176 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

we have the receipt of fern-seed, we walk invis- 
ible." 

An old account tells us : 

The fern flowers on Midsummer night at twelve o'clock, 
and drives away all unclean spirits. First of all it puts 
forth buds, which afterwards expand, then open, and 
finally change into flowers of a dark red hue. At midnight 
the flower opens to its fullest extent and illuminates every- 
thing around. But at that precise moment a demon plucks 
it from its stalk. Whoever wishes to procure this flower 
must be in the forest before midnight, locate himself near 
the fern and trace a circle around it. When the Devii 
approaches and calls, feigning the voice of a parent, sweet- 
heart, etc., no attention must be paid, nor must the head be 
turned ; for if it is, it will remain so. Whoever becomes the 
happy possessor of the flower has nothing to fear; by its 
means he can recover lost treasure, become invisible, rule on 
earth and under water and defy the Devil. 

Because the fern was so powerful against evil 
and because it was sacred to St. John the Baptist, 
witches detested it. 

Pliny stated that the fern had neither flower nor 
seed; and some of the old English writers believed 
this. William Turner, however, went to work to 
investigate matters. In his famous "Herbal," pub- 
lished in 1562,^ he says: 

"Not only the common people say that the fern 

*See p. 34. 




WILTON, FROM DE CAUX 




WILTON GARDENS TO-DAY 



"SWEET SUMMER BUDS" 177 

hath seed, but that was also the opinion of a Chris- 
tian physician named Hieronymus Tragus, who doth 
not only say that the fern hath seed, but writeth 
that he found upon Midsummer Even seed upon 
brakes.^ Although all they that have written of 
herbs have affirmed and holden that the brake doth 
neither seed nor fruit, yet have I divers times proved 
the contrary, which thing I will testify here in this 
place for their sakes that be students of herbs. I 
have, four years together, one after another, upon 
the Vigil of St. John the Baptist, which we call in 
English Midsummer Even, sought for this seed of 
brakes upon the night ; and, indeed, I found it early 
in the morning before day-break. The seed was 
small, black, and like unto poppy. I went about 
this business all figures, conjurings, saunters, charms, 
witchcraft, sorceries, taking with me two or three 
honest men. When I sought this seed all the vil- 
lage about did shine with bonfires that the people 
made there; and sometime when I sought the seed 
I found it, and sometimes I found it not. Some- 
time I found much and sometime I found little ; but 
what should be the cause of this diversitie, or what 
Nature meaneth in this thing, surely I cannot tell." 
HONEYSUCKLE (Lonicera perfolium). De- 

* Brake, or bracken, fern. 



178 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

licious name — honeysuckle ! And truly this is one of 
"the sweetest flowers for scent that blows." It takes 
its name because of the honey dew found on it, so old 
writers say. Romantic is its other name, "wood- 
bine," suggesting sylvan spots and mossy beds, 
where cool-rooted flowers grow, such as the "nod- 
ding violet." Shakespeare knew what he was about 
when he enwreathed and entwined TitanicH s canopy 
with "luscious woodbine" in loving union with the 
equally delicious eglantine. The honeysuckle is a 
flower that belongs particularly to moonlight and to 
fairy-time. 

In "Much Ado About Nothing" liero gives the 
command : ^ 

Good Margaret, run into the parlor and whisper to Beatrice 
And bid her steal into the pleached bower, 
Where honeysuckles ripened by the sun, 
Forbid the sun to enter. 

A bower covered with the intense, yet subtle, per- 
fume of the honeysuckle, doubly sweet in the hot 
sun that had ripened the blossoms and drawn out 
their inmost sweetness, was just the place to send 
"saucy Beatrice" for the purpose of lighting the 
flame of love for Benedick., and just the place to 
send, a little later, the cynical Benedick for the pur- 

*Act III, Scene I. 



"SWEET SUMMER BUDS" 179 

pose of awakening his interest in the "Lady Dis- 
dain." Shakespeare evidently knew that the honey- 
suckle is the flower of ardent lovers, and so he 
framed his pleached bower with these sweet-scented 
blossoms. The French have a tender name for the 
flower, cher feu (dear flame), because it is given by 
lovers to one another. The other French name, 
chevre feuille^ is derived from the Latin caprifolium 
(goat-leaf), which may have been given to it be- 
cause the plant leaps over high rocks and precipices, 
where only goats and others of the cloven-footed 
tribe dare venture. The honeysuckle in Shake- 
peare's day was a favorite remedy for wounds in 
the head. Witches also valued it for their sorcery. 
According to sorcerers and astrologers this plant was 
under the rule of Mercury. 

It is hard to decide when the honeysuckle is at its 
best. Whether at hot noontide when the clusters of 
pale buff and white horns of plenty tipped with their 
long, feathery threads pour their incense into the 
golden sunlight, or when the less pungent, but 
equally intoxicating, perfume floats upon the silvery 
blue air of a moonlit night. 

"How sweetly smells the Honeysuckle, in the 
hush'd night as if the world were one of utter peace 
and love and gentleness." 



i8o THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

Landor has thus expressed what the delicious 
honeysuckle makes us feel. 

"The monthly honeysuckle," writes Celia Thax- 
ter, "is most divine. Such vigor of growth I have 
never seen in any other plant. It climbs the trellis 
on my piazza and spreads its superb clusters of 
flowers from time to time all summer. Each cluster 
is a triumph of beauty, flat in the center and curving 
out to the blossoming edge in joyous lines of loveli- 
ness, most like a wreath of heavenly trumpets 
breathing melodies of perfume to the air. Each 
trumpet of lustrous white deepens to a yellower tint 
in the center where the small ends meet; each blos- 
som where it opens at the lips is tipped with fresh 
pink; each sends out a group of long stamens from 
its slender throat like rays of light; and the whole 
circle of radiant flowers has an effect of gladness 
and glory indescribable: the very sight of it lifts 
and refreshes the human heart. And for its odor, 
it is like the spirit of romance, sweet as youth's 
tender dreams. It is summer's very soul." 

Enchanting season of fern and honeysuckle, per- 
fumed stars that shine through green leaves and 
bells that send forth peals of incense instead of 
sound I 



"SWEET SUMMER BUDS" 181 

She show'd me her ferns and woodbine sprays 

Fox-glove and jasmine stars, 
A mist of blue in the beds, a blaze 

Of red in the celadon jars, 
And velvety bees in convolvulus beds 

And roses of bountiful June — 
Oh, who would think that the summer spells 

Could die so soon *? ^ 



Carnations and Gilliflowers 

CARNATIONS {Dianthus caryophyllus). Per- 
dita calls carnations and streak'd gilliflowers "the 
fairest flowers o' the season." Carnation was origi- 
nally spelled coronation, because the flower was used 
to make crowns, garlands, and wreaths. In the days 
of Pliny it was called dianthus^ or flower of Jove, 
and was also worn in wreaths and crowns. From 
Chaucer we know that it was cultivated as the 
"Clove Gilliflower" in English gardens; and be- 
cause it was used to add a spicy flavor to wine and 
ale, it acquired the popular name of "sops in wine." 
Hence Spenser in his "Shepherd's Calendar" sings: 

Bring hither the pink and purple Columbine 
With Gillyflowers; 

* Locker-Lampson. 



i82 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

Bring Coronations and Sops-in-wine 
Worn of paramours. 

And again: 

Youth's folk now flocken everywhere 
To gather May baskets and smelling Brere,^ 
And home they hasten the posts to dight 
And all the kirk pillars in daylight 
With Hawthorn budes and sweet Eglantine 
And garlands of Roses and Sops-in-wine. 

"Its second specific name," writes EUacombe, 
"Caryophyllus^ i. e., nut-leaved, seems at first very 
inappropriate for a grassy-leaved plant; but the 
name was first given to the Indian Clove tree and 
from it transferred to the Carnation on account of 
its fine clove scent. Its popularity as an English 
plant is shown by its many names — Pink, Carna- 
tion, Gilliflower (an easily-traced and well-ascer- 
tained corruption from Caryophyllus)^ Clove 
Picotee ^ and Sops-in-wine from the flowers being 
used to flavor wine and beer. 

"There is an historical interest also in the flowers. 
All our Carnations, Picotees and Cloves came origi- 
nally from the single Dianthus caryophyllus. This 
is not a true British plant; but it holds a place in 

^ Brier. 

^ From the French picot, a pinked edge. We still use the word 
"pinked" for a cut edge, and "pinking-iron" is the word for that 
with v/hich the edge is cut. 



"SWEET SUMMER BUDS" 183 

the English flora, being naturalized on Rochester 
and other castles. It is abundant in Normandy; 
and I found it in 1874 covering the old castle of 
Falaise, in which William the Conqueror was born. 
I have found that it grows on the old castles of 
Dover, Deal and Cardiff, all of them of Norman 
construction, as was Rochester, which was built by 
Gandulf, the special friend of William. Its oc- 
currence on these several Norman castles makes it 
very possible that it was introduced by the Norman 
builders, perhaps as a pleasant memory of their 
Norman homes, though it may have been inci- 
dentally introduced with the Norman (Caen) stone, 
of which parts of the castles are built. How soon 
it became a florist's flower we do not know; but it 
must have been early, for in Shakespeare's time the 
sorts of Cloves, Carnations and Pinks were so many 
that Gerard says : 'A great and large volume would 
not suffice to write of every one at large in particu- 
lar, considering how infinite they are, and how every 
year, every climate and country bringeth forth new 
sorts and such as have not heretofore been written 
of.' " 

Parkinson speaks of "Carnations, Pinks and Gillo- 
flowers." "The number of them is so great," he says, 
"that to give several descriptions to them were end- 



i84 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

less." He therefore mentions a few favorites. 
Among the Carnations we find the Great Harwich, 
or old English Carnation; the Red, or Clove Gillo- 
flower; the Yellow, or Orange Tawny Gilloflower; 
the Gray Hulo; the Red Hulo; the Blue Hulo; the 
Grimelo, or Prince; the White Carnation, or Deli- 
cate; the French Carnation; the Crystal, or Chrys- 
talline; the Fragrant; the Striped Savage; the Ox- 
ford Carnation; the King's Carnation; the Granado; 
the Grand Pere ; and the Great Lombard. His Gilli- 
flowers include the Lustie Gallant, or Westminster ; 
the Bristow Blue; the Bristow Blush; the Red 
Dover; the Fair Maid of Kent, or Ruffling Robin; 
the Queen's Gilloflower; the Dainty; the Brassill 
Gilloflower; the Turkic Gilloflower; the Pale 
Pageant; the Sad Pageant; Master Bradshawe his 
Dainty Lady; John Witte his great Tawny Gillo- 
flower; the Striped Tawny; the Marbled Tawny; 
Master Tuggie his Princess; the Feathered Tawny; 
and Master Tuggie his Rose Gilloflower. The 
Tuggies had a superb garden at Westminster in 
which they made a specialty of Carnations, Gilli- 
flowers, and Pinks. The flower upon which Parkin- 
son spends his most loving description is the Great 
Harwich. The enthusiasm of this old flower- 
fancier, who writes so delightfully, makes us feel 




A GARDEN OF DELIGHT 



"SWEET SUMMER BUDS" 185 

that the Great Harwich is an English institution, 
just as important as the Roast Beef of Old England 
or the English Plum Pudding. 

"I take this goodly great old English Carnation," 
he writes, "as a precedent for the description of all 
the rest, which for his beauty and stateliness is 
worthy of a prime place. It riseth up with a great 
thick, round stalk divided into several branches 
somewhat thickly set with joints, and at every joint 
two long green (rather than whitish) leaves, turn- 
ing, or winding, two or three times round. The 
flowers stand at the tops of the stalks in long great 
and round green husks, which are divided into five 
points, out of which rise many long and broad 
pointed leaves, deeply jagged at the ends, set in 
order, round and comely, making a gallant, great 
double Flower of a deep Carnation color, almost red, 
spotted with many blush spots and streaks, some 
greater and some lesser, of an excellent soft, sweet 
scent, neither too quick, as many others of these 
kinds are, nor yet too dull; and with two whitish 
crooked threads, like horns, in the middle. This 
kind never beareth many flowers; but as it is slow 
in growing, so in bearing, not to be often handled, 
which showeth a kind of stateliness fit to preserve 
the opinion of magnificence." 



i86 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

What a delightful idea Parkinson gives of the 
conscious dignity of the flower! How vividly he 
brings the Great Harwich before us and makes us 
love its green husk, its mottled leaves, its rich scent, 
and its curling horns! 

"Gilloflowers," Parkinson continues, "grow like 
unto Carnations, but not so thick set with joints and 
leaves. The stalks are more, the leaves are narrower 
and whiter, for the most part, and in some, do as 
well a little turn/ The flowers are smaller, yet very 
thick and double in most; and the green husks in 
which they stand are smaller likewise. The ends 
of the leaves are dented and jagged. Some also have 
two small white threads, crooked at the ends like 
horns in the middle of the flower ; others have none. 

"Most of our later writers do call them by one 
general name, Caryophyllus sativus and Ylos 
Caryophyllus, adding thereto maximus when we 
mean Carnations, and major when we would ex- 
press Gilloflowers, which name is taken from Cloves 
in that the scent of the ordinary red Gilloflower es- 
pecially doth resemble them. Divers other several 
names have been formerly given them, as Vetonica^ 
or Betonia altera or Vetonica altibus and coronaria^ 
Herba Tunica^ Viola Da?nascena^ Ocellus Damas- 

' "Do a little turn" is charming, suggesting a quaint little waltz. 



"SWEET SUMMER BUDS" 187 

cenus and Barbarieus. Of some Cantahrica Pliny. 
Some think they were unknown to the Ancients and 
some would have them be Iphium of Theophrastus, 
whereof he maketh mention in his sixth and seventh 
chapters of his sixth book among garland and sum- 
mer flowers; others to be his Dios anthos or Louis 
flos. We call them in English, the greatest kinds, 
Carnations, and the other Gilloflowers (quasi July 
Flowers). The Red, or Clove, Gilloflower is most 
used in physic in our apothecaries' shops (none of 
the others being accepted, or used) and is accounted 
to be a very cordial." 

Some writers say that the gilliflower was a cure 
for pestilential fevers. Gerard writes: "Conserve 
made of the flowers of the Clove Gilloflower and 
sugar is exceeding cordial and wonderfully above 
measure, doth comfort the heart, being eaten now 
and then." 

The Italian painter, Benvenuto Tisio, always 
painted a gilliflower in the corner of his pictures 
as his emblem, from which he is always called // 
Garofalo. 

The word "pink" is derived from the Dutch word 
Finks ter (Whitsuntide), the season a certain "Whit- 
suntide Gilliflower" was in bloom. The pink was 
regarded as an antidote for epilepsy; and a vinegar 



i88 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

made of pinks was used as a valued remedy for the 
plague. The Elizabethans also thought "if a con- 
serve be composed of it, it is the life and delight of 
the human race." 

Our old friend Parkinson describes Pinks as 
"wild, or small, Gilloflowers, some bearing single 
and some double flowers, some smooth, almost with- 
out any deep dents on the edges, and some jagged, 
or, as it were, feathered. Some growing upright, 
like unto Gilloflowers, others creeping, or spreading, 
some of one color, some of another, and many of 
divers colors." 

He gives Double and Single Pinks, Feathered or 
Jagged Pinks, Star Pinks, Great Sea Gilloflower, 
or Great Thrift, "often used in gardens to empale 
or border a knot, because it abideth green in Winter 
and Summer and that by cutting it may grow thick 
and be kept in what form one list." We also find 
Single Red Sweet John, Single White Sweet John; 
Double Sweet John; Single Red Sweet William; 
Double Red Sweet William; Speckled Sweet Wil- 
liam, or London Pride; Deep Red, or Murrey Color, 
Sweet William; and Single White Sweet William. 

"These," he adds, "are all generally called 
Armerius or Armeria, yet some have called them 
Vetonica agrestis and others Herba Tunica^ Scar- 



"SWEET SUMMER BUDS" 189 

latea and Carophyllus silvestris. We do in Eng- 
lish, in most places call the first, or narrower-leaved 
kinds. Sweet Johns and all the rest Sweet Wil- 
liams; yet in some places they call the broader- 
leaved kinds that are not spotted Tolmeiners and 
London Tufts; but the speckled kind is termed by 
our English Gentlewomen, for the most part, Lon- 
don Pride. We have not known of any of these 
used in physic." 

These spicy pinks and luscious July flowers and 
the simple Sweet-Johns and Sweet- Williams as well 
recall the lovely lines of Matthew Arnold: 

Soon will the high midsummer pomp come on. 

Soon will the musk carnations break and swell, 

Soon shall we have gold-dusted Snapdragon, 
Sweet-william with his homely cottage smell, 

And stocks in fragrant blow; 

Roses that down the alleys shine afar, 
And open jasmine in muffled lattices 
And groups under the dreaming garden trees 

And the pale moon and the white dreaming star. 

VI 

Marigold and Larkspur 

MARIGOLD (^Calendula officinalis). Shake- 
speare was devoted to the marigold. He always 
speaks of it with poetic rapture. 



igo THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

The marigold that goes to bed with the sun 
And with him rises, weeping, 

is Perdita's idea of the shining flower, which in these 
few words she tells us closes its petals in the eve- 
ning and at dawn awakens wet with dew.^ 

Then in the beautiful dawn-song in "Cymbe- 
line" ^ "winking Mary-buds" remind us that the 
gold-flower is consecrated to the Virgin Mary. This 
song, so full of the freshness of early morning and 
the sweet perfume of flowers holding in their deep 
cups sufficient dew to water the horses of the sun 
just appearing above the horizon, is one of the love- 
liest of lyrics: 

Hark! Hark! the lark at heaven's gate sings, 

And Phoebus 'gins arise, 
His steeds to water at those springs 

On chaliced flowers that lies ; 
And winking Mary-buds begin to ope their golden eyes ; 
With everything that pretty is — My lady, sweet, arise : 

Arise, arise. 

"The Marygold," says Lyte, "hath pleasant, 
bright and shining yellow flowers, the which do close 
at the setting down of the Sun and do spread and 
open again at the Sun rising." 

And Lupton writes: "Some do call it Spousa 

*"The Winter's Tale"; Act IV, Scene III. 
'Act II, Scene III. 



"SWEET SUMMER BUDS" 191 

Solis^ the Spowse of the Sun, because it sleeps and 

is awakened with him." 

In "The Rape of Lucrece" Shakespeare also men;; 

tions the flower : 

Her eyes, like marigolds, hath sheathed their light 
And canopied in darkness sweetly lay 
Till they might open to adorn the day. 

Very prettily the flower is introduced in Middle- 
ton and Rowley's "Spanish Gipsy" : 

You the Sun to her must play, 

She to you the Marigold, 

To none but you her leaves unfold. 

Another old English name for the marigold was 
ruddes and a prettier one was the gold-flower, often 
called simply the gold or goold. Chaucer talks of 
"yellow Goldes." The name was still used in Eliza- 
beth's day. "Colin Clout" has: 

But if I her like ought on earth might read, 
I would her liken to a crown of lilies, 
Upon a Virgin bride!s adorned head. 
With roses dight and goolds and daffodillies. 

In Medieval times the monks gave to the gold- 
flower the prefix Mary, with the legend that the 
Virgin Mary loved to wear the flower in her bosom./ 
Hence Shakespeare calls it "Mary-buds." Of Shake- 
speare's Marigolds Parkinson writes: 



192 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

"They are called Caltha of divers and taken to 
be that Caltha whereof both Virgil and Columella 
have written. Others do call them Calendula of 
the Kalends, that is the first day of the months, 
wherein they are thought chiefly to flower. And 
thereupon the Italians call them Fiori di ogni mese, 
that is the Flowers of Every Month. We call them 
in English generally Golds, or Marigolds. 

"The herb and flowers are of great use with us 
among other pot-herbs, and the flowers, either green 
or dyed, are often used in possets, broths and drinks ; 
as a comforter of the heart and spirits ; and to expel 
any malignant, or pestilential quality, gathered near 
thereunto. The Syrup and Conserve made of the 
fresh flowers are used for the same 'purpose to good 
effect." 

Parkinson divides marigolds unto two classes: 
single and double. 

"The garden Marigold," he says, "hath round 
green stalks, branching out from the ground into 
many parts, whereon are set long, flat green leaves, 
broader and rounder at the point than anywhere 
else. The flowers are sometimes very thick and 
double (breaking out of a scaly, clammy green 
head), composed of many rows of leaves, set so close 
together, one within another, that no middle thrum 



''SWEET SUMMER BUDS" 193 

can be seen; and sometimes less double, having a 
small brown spot of a thrum in the middle; and 
sometimes but of two or three rows of leaves with 
a large brown thrum in the middle : every one where- 
of is somewhat broader at the point and nicked in 
two or three corners, of an excellent fair, deep, 
gold-yellow color in some, and paler in others, and 
of a pretty strong and resinous sweet scent. 

"There is no difference between this and the single 
Marigold but that the flowers are single, consisting 
of one row of leaves of the same color; either paler 
or deeper yellow, standing about a great brown 
thrum in the middle. Our gardens are the chief 
places for the double flowers to grow in." 

Another description is contained in the famous 
"Gardener's Labyrinth" by Didymus Mountain 
(Thomas Hill) : ^ 

"The Marigold, named of the herbarians Calen- 
dula^ is so properly termed for that in every Calend 
and in each month this reneweth of the own accord 
and is found to bear flowers as well in Winter as 
Summer, for which cause the Italians name the same 
the flower of every month. But some term it the 
Sun's Spowse, or the follower of the Sun; and is of 
some named the Husbandman's Dial, in that the 

*See p. 68. 



194 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

same showeth to them both the morning and eve- 
ning tide. Others name it the Sun's Bride and 
Sun's Herb, in that the flowers of the same follow 
the Sun as from the rising by the South into the 
West ; and by a notable turning obeying to the Sun, 
in such manner that what part of Heaven he pos- 
sesseth they unto the same turned behold, and that 
in a cloudy and thick air like directed, as if they 
should be revived, quickened and moved with the 
spirit of him. Such is the love of it knowen to be 
toward that royal Star, being in the night time for 
desire of him as pensive and sad, they be shut or 
closed together ; but at the noontime of the day fully 
spread abroad as if they with spread arms longed, 
or diligently attended, to embrace their Bridegroom. 
This Marigold is a singular kind of herb, sown in 
gardens as well for the pot as for the decking of 
garlands, beautifying of Nosegays and to be worn in 
the bosom." 

The Marigold is supposed to be the chrysanthe- 
mum or gold-flower of the Greeks, the Heliotrope- 
solsequium ; and the story goes that the flower was 
originally the nymph Clytie, who gazed all day upon 
the Sun with whom she had fallen in love. At 
length she was turned into the flower. "All yellow 
flowers," said St. Francis de Sales, "and above all 



"SWEET SUMMER BUDS" 195 

those that the Greeks call Heliotrope and we call 
Sunflower, not only rejoice at the sight of the sun, 
but follow with loving fidelity the attraction of its 
rays, gazing at the Sun and turning towards it from 
its rising to its setting." 

Very charmingly does George Wither, a contem- 
porary of Shakespeare, refer to this: 

When with a serious musing I behold 

The grateful and obsequious Marigold, 

How duly every morning she displays 

Her open breast when Phoebus spreads his rays ; 

How she observes him in his daily walk, 

Still bending towards him her small slender stalk; 

How when he down declines she droops and mourns, 

Bedewed, as 't were, with tears till he returns ; 

And how she veils her flowers when he is gone. 

When this I meditate methinks the flowers 

Have spirits far more generous than ours. 

Margaret of Orleans, grandmother of Henri IV, 
knowing well the legend of the flower, chose for her 
device a marigold with the motto, je ne veux suivre 
que lui seul. 

In the reign of Henry VIII the marigold was often 
called "Souvenir" and sentimental ladies wore 
wreaths of marigolds mixed with the heartsease. To 
dream of marigolds denoted prosperity, riches, suc- 
cess, and a happy and a wealthy marriage. As the 



196 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

marigold was a solar flower, the astrologers placed 
it under the sign and care of Leo. 

In a wholly Elizabethan spirit Keats sang: 

Open afresh your round of starry folds, 

Ye ardent Marigolds ! 
Dry up the moisture from your golden lids, 

For great Apollo bids 
That in these days your praises should be sung 
On many harps, which he has lately strung; 
And when again your dewyness he kisses 
Tell him I have you in my world of blisses ! 
So happly when I rove in some far vale 
His mighty voice may come upon the gale. 

The Shakespearian marigold must not be con- 
fused with the French marigold {Flos Africanus)^ 
called also Indian gilliflower, flower of Africa, and 
flower of Tunis. A long chapter on this marigold 
appears in Parkinson's book. This is the tightly 
rolled up little flower of irregular ragged petals, 
but of a rich, deep golden hue. 

Parkinson also speaks of the great Peruvian sun- 
flower, which he admires greatly and describes with 
enthusiasm. We know it well as our common sun- 
flower with its dark center and yellow rays — a 
magnificent specimen of the floral world, worthy of 
the adoration of the Incas and of more than we 
usually accord to it. 



"SWEET SUMMER BUDS" 197 

LARKSPUR {Delphiniu?n). "Lark' s-heels trim," 
one of the flowers in the introductory song of 
"The Two Noble Kinsmen," is the Delphinium, 
also called larkspur, lark's-claw, lark's-toes, and 
knight's-spur. The generic name is derived from 
the Greek delphinium^ because the buds were 
thought to resemble the form of a dolphin. 

As with many other plants, there were two kinds, 
the "wild" and the "tame"; and it was the wild 
kind that was "nourished up in gardens," according 
to Parkinson, who describes the plant as having 
"small, long, green leaves, finely cut, almost like 
fennel and the branches ending in a long spike of 
hollow flowers with a long spur behind them. They 
are of several colors : bluish purple, or white, or ash 
color, or red, paler or deeper, and parti-colored of 
two colors in a flower. 

"They are called diversely by divers writers as 
Cons olid a regulis, Calearis fios^ Flos regius^ Bucci- 
nu?n Rotnanoru?n^ and Cuminum silvestre alterum 
Dioscoridis; but the most usual name with us is 
Delphinium. But whether it be the true Delphinium 
of Dioscorides, or the Poet's Hyacinth, or the Flower, 
of Ajax, another place is fitter to discuss than this. 
We call them in English Larks-heels, Larkspurs, 
Larkstoes, or claws, and Monks-hoods. There is no 



198 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

use of any of these in Physicke in these days that I 
know, but are wholly spent for their flowers sake." 

A modern botanist remarks: 

"The gardener's ideal has been the full-flowered 
spike with a goodly range of colors on the chord of 
blue. We think of larkspur as blue. Some of these 
blues are pale as the sky, some pure cobalt, others 
indigo and still others are a strange broken blue, 
gorgeous and intense, yet impure, glittering on the 
surface as if it were strewn with broken glass, and 
sometimes darkened into red. The center of a lark- 
spur is often grotesque; the hairy petals suggest a 
bee at the heart of a flower, and the flower itself 
looks like a little creature poised for flight. In 
structure the garden race has changed very little 
from the primitive type, though that type has wan- 
dered far from the simplicity of the buttercup, which 
names the Ranunculactz. Whatever path of evolu- 
tion the larkspur has trod, it is very clear that the 
goal at which it has arrived is cross-fertilization by 
means of the bee. At some time along the path the 
calix took on the duties of the corolla, became highly 
colored, developed a spur, while at the same time 
the corolla lessened both in size and in importance. 
The stamens mature before the pistil and are so 
placed that the bee cannot get at the honey without 



"SWEET SUMMER BUDS" 199 

covering its head with pollen which it then bears to 
another flower." 

The name of Monk's-hood is also given to the 
Blue Helmet-flower, or aconite.^ 

Yellow Lark's-heels is a name our Elizabethan 
forefathers gave to the Nasturtiupi Indicum^ a plant 
found in the West Indies and taken by the early 
Spanish explorers to Spain, whence it traveled to 
all parts of Europe. 

"It is now very familiar in most gardens of any 
curiosity," says Parkinson. "The likeness of this 
flower, having spurs, or heels, is of so great beauty 
and sweetness withall that my Garden of Delight 
cannot be unfurnished of it. The flowers are of an 
excellent gold yellow color and grow all along the 
stalks. In the middle of each of the three lower 
leaves there is a little long spot, or streak, of an 
excellent crimson color, with a long heel, or spur, 
behind, hanging down. The whole flower hath a 
fine small scent, very pleasing, which, being placed 
in the middle of some Carnations, or Gilloflowers 
(for they are in flower at the same time), make a 
delicious Tussiemussie, as they call it, or Nosegay, 
both for sight and scent. Monardus and others call 
it ¥los sanguineus of the red spots in the flower, as 

'See p. 248. 



200 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

also Nastnerzo de las Indias, which is Nasturtium 
Indicum; and we thereafter in English, Indian 
Cresses. Yet it may be called from the form of the 
flowers Yellow Lark's heels." 

This flower is phosphorescent and is said to emit 
sparks, which are visible in the dark. 

VII 

Vansies for Thoughts and Poppies for Dreams 

PANSY {Viola tricolor). "Pansies — that's for 
thoughts," exclaims Ophelia^ as she holds out 
the flower that the French call pensee (thought). 
And it is the pansy that is "the little western flower" 
upon which "the bolt of Cupid fell" and made 
"purple with love's wound" and which "maidens 
call Love in Idleness," — the flower that Oberon 
thus described to Puck when he sent him to gather it. 
The juice of it squeezed by Oberon upon TitanicC s 
eyelids and by Puck upon the Athenian youths and 
maidens, who were also sleeping in the enchanted 
wood on that midsummer night, occasioned so many 
fantastic happenings. 

The pansy in those days was the small Johnny- 
Jump-Up, a variety of the violet, according to the 
old writers, "a little violet of three colors, blue, 



"SWEET SUMMER BUDS" 201 

white and yellow." Milton noted that it was 
"freaked with jet." Michael Drayton showed its 
close relationship to the violet in the lines : 

The pansy and the violet here 

As seeming to descend 
Both from one root and very fair 

For sweetness yet contend. 

Gerard wrote in 1587: 

"The stalks are weak and tender, whereupon 
grow flowers in form and figure like the Violet and 
for the most part of the same bigness, of three sundry 
colors, whereof it took the surname Tricolor, that 
is to say purple, yellow and white, or blue ; by rea- 
son of the beauty and bravery of which colors they 
are very pleasing to the eye, for smell they have lit- 
tle, or none at all." 

The pansy was beloved of Elizabethans : the greaF 
number of popular names it had proves this. In 
addition to Pansy and Johnny-Jump-Up, it was 
called Herb Trinity, because of the three distinct 
petals, which made it a flower of peculiar religious 
significance. Another name was Three-Faces- 
under-a-Hood because it had such a coquettish air. 
Another name was Fancy Flamey, because its ame- 
thystine colors are like those seen in the flames of 
burning wood; and because lovers gave it to one 



202 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

another it had the pet names of Meet-me-at-the- 
Garden-Gate, Kiss-me-at-the-Garden-Gate, Kiss- 
me-quick, Kiss-me, Call-me-to-you, Cuddle-me-to 
you, Kiss-me-ere-I-rise, Pink-of-my-John, Cupid' s- 
flower. Love-in-idleness, and Heartsease. 

There were no "wine dark pansies" in Shake- 
speare's time to charm the lover of flowers and none 
of the splendid deep purple velvets and mauves and 
pale amethysts and burnt orange and lemon and 
claret and sherry and canary hues that delight us 
to-day, and which are, to use the quaint old expres- 
sion, "nourished up in our gardens." The modern 
beauties began to be developed about 1875, chiefly 
by the French specialists, and, as a modern writer 
remarks : 

"Such sizes, such combinations, such weirdness 
of expression in quaint faces painted upon the petals 
were never known before. The colors now run a 
marvellous range; pure- white, pure yellow, deepen- 
ing to orange, and darkening to brown, as well as a 
bewildering variety of blues and purples and violets. 
The lowest note is a rich and velvety shade that we 
speak of as black; but there is no black in flowers. 

"The pansy is the flower for all. It is cheap; it is 
hardy; it is beautiful; and its beauty is of an un- 
usual and personal kind. The bright, cheerful, wist- 



"SWEET SUMMER BUDS" 203 

ful or roguish faces look up to you with so much 
apparent intelligence that it is hard to believe it is 
all a pathetic fallacy and there is nothing there." 

Whether the modern pansies should be included 
in a Shakespeare garden is a question for each owner 
of a garden to decide ; but there should certainly be 
a goodly number of the little "Johnny-Jump-Ups." 

POPPY {Papaver somniferuni). Shakespeare 
introduces the poppy only indirectly when he 
speaks of the "drowsy syrup" in "Othello." The 
white poppy is the flower from which the sleeping 
potion was made. "Of Poppies," says Parkinson, 
"there are a great many sorts, both wild and tame ; 
but our garden doth entertain none but those of 
beauty and respect. The general known name to all 
is Fapaver, Poppie. Yet our English gentlewomen 
in some places call it by name Joan's Silver Pin. 
It is not unknown, I suppose, to any that Poppies 
procureth sleep." Other old names for the poppy 
were Corn Rose and Cheese Bowl. 

Scarlet poppies in the wreath of Ceres among the 
wheat-ears, scarlet poppies .mingled with large 
white-petaled daisies, and Ragged Robins belong to 
everybody's mental picture of midsummer days. 

"We usually think of the Poppy as a coarse 
flower," says Ruskin, "but it is the most transparent 



204 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

and delicate of all the blossoms of the field. The 
rest, nearly all of them, depend on the texture of 
their surface for color. But the Poppy is painted 
glass; it never glows so brightly as when the sun 
shines through it. Whenever it is seen against the 
light, or with the light, always it is a flame and 
warms in the wind like a blown ruby." 

"Gather a green Poppy bud, just when it shows 
the scarlet line at its side, break it open and unpack 
the Poppy. The whole flower is there compact in 
size and color, its stamens full grown, but all packed 
so closely that the fine silk of the petals is crushed 
into a million of wrinkles. When the flower opens, 
it seems a relief from torture; the two imprisoning 
green leaves are shaken to the ground, the aggrieved 
corolla smooths itself in the sun and comforts itself 
as best it can, but remains crushed and hurt to the 
end of its days." 

Delicate and fine as is the above description, the 
sympathetic tribute to the poppy by Celia Thaxter 
does not suffer in proximity. She says : 

"I know of no flower that has so many charming 
tricks and manners, none with a method of growth 
more picturesque and fascinating. The stalks often 
take a curve, a twist from some current of air, or 



"SWEET SUMMER BUDS" 205 

some impediment, and the fine stems will turn and 
bend in all sorts of graceful ways, but the bud is 
always held erect when the time comes for it to 
blossom. Ruskin quotes Lindley's definition of what 
constitutes a poppy, which he thinks 'might stand.' 
This is it : 'A Poppy is a flower which has either four 
or six petals and two or more treasuries united in 
one, containing a milky stupefying fluid in its stalks 
and leaves and always throwing away its calix when 
it blossoms.' 

"I muse over their seed-pods, those supremely 
graceful urns that are wrought with such matchless 
elegance of shape and think what strange power they 
hold within. Sleep is there and Death, his brother, 
imprisoned in those mystic sealed cups. There is a 
hint of their mystery in their shape of somber 
beauty, but never a suggestion in the fluttering blos- 
som : it is the gayest flower that blows. In the more 
delicate varieties the stalks are so slender, yet so 
strong, like fine grass stems. When you examine 
them, you wonder how they hold even the light 
weight of the flower so firmly and proudly erect ; and 
they are clothed with the finest of fine hairs up and 
down the stalks and over the green calix. 

"It is plain to see, as one gazes over the poppy- 



2o6 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

beds on some sweet evening at sunset, what buds will 
bloom in the joy of next morning's first sunbeams, 
for these will be lifting themselves heavenward, 
slowly and silently, but surely. To stand by the 
beds at sunrise and see the flowers awake is a 
heavenly delight. As the first long, low rays of the 
sun strike the buds, you know they feel the signal ! 
A light air stirs among them; you lift your eyes, 
perhaps to look at a rosy cloud, or follow the flight 
of a carolling bird, and when you look back again, 
lol the calix has fallen from the largest bud and 
lies on the ground, two half-transparent light green 
shells, leaving the flower-petal wrinked in a thou- 
sand folds, just released from their close pressure. 
A moment more and they are unclosing before you 
eyes. They flutter out on the gentle breeze like 
silken banners to the sun." 

It would be tempting in a Shakespeare garden to 
include many kinds of this joyous, yet solemn, 
flower ; and certainly as many were common in Eliza- 
bethan gardens it would not be an anachronism to 
have them. However, if the space be restricted and 
the garden lover a purist then the white poppy only 
should be planted. 



"SWEET SUMMER BUDS" 207 

VIII 

Crow-flowers and Long Purples 

CROW-FLOWERS {Scilla nutans). These are 
among the flowers Ophelia wove into a wreath. The 
queen tells the court: 

There is a willow grove ascaunt the brook, 
That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream. 
There, with fantastic garlands did she come 
Of crow flowers, nettles, daisies and long purples 
That liberal shepherds give a grosser name 
But our cold maids do dead men's fingers call them.^ 

Shakespeare did not select Ophelia's flowers at 
random. They typified the sorrows of the gentle 
victim of disappointed love whose end was first mad-l 
ness, then suicide. The crow-flowers signified "fair 
maiden"; the nettles, "stung to the quick"; the 
daisies, "her virgin bloom"; and the long purples, 
"under the cold hand of Death." Thus what Shake-f 
speare intended to convey by this code of flower$ 
was, "A fair maiden, stung to the quick, her virgiik 
bloom in the cold hand of Death." ' 

It is generally supposed that the wild blue 
hyacinth, or harebell (^S cilia nutans)^ a flower asso- 

' "Hamlet"; Act IV, Scene VII. 



2o8 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

dated with pure and faithful love, is the crow- 1 
flower ; and authority is given to this theory in the [ 
old ballad, which, of course, Shakespeare knew, j 
called "The Deceased Maiden Lover" : 

Then round the meddowes did she walk 
Catching each flower by the stalk, 
Such as within the meddowes grew, 
As dead man's thumb and harebell blue, 
And as she pluckt them still cried she, 
"Alas ! there 's none ere loved like me." 

Some critics have objected to the blue harebell, 
because it is a spring flower, and it is midsummer I 
when Ophelia drowns herself. These authorities 
suggest the Ragged Robin for Ophelia's crow-flower, j 
and others again the buttercup, also called creeping! 
crowfoot {Ranunculus repens). Bloom writes: 

"It is generally assumed that the flowers are those 
of the meadow and that a moist one. Why*? It is 
equally probable they are those of the shady hedge 
bank and that the crow-flowers are the poisonous 
rank Ranunculus reptans and its allies; that the 
nettles are the ordinary Urtica dioica not necessarily 
in flower, or if this be objected to on account of the 
stinging qualities which the distraught Ophelia 
might not be insensible to, its place could be taken 
by the white dead nettle Lamium album L. The 
daisies may be moon-daisies and the long purples 




PLEACHING AND PLASHING, FROM "THE GARDENER'S LABYRINTH" 




^^WS^vr^ ^rrhe^Vks'^<f ^/i 



iiiiiiiiiiioiiiiiiiitaiiiiiutiiniitii/iiiiifiiiiiiitiiiiuiiiniiiiiiHiiiiitiii 



tiiiiinniii(ii!]itiiiiii{i)it!{)i/f}itiffiinjiffi)iiffiiiiiifiiii(!tt(ii{i[JH{fnN^ 



SMALL ENCLOSED GARDEN, FROM "THE GARDENER'S LABYRINTH" 



"SWEET SUMMI:r BUDS" 209 

Arum masculatum, another plant of baleful influ- 
ence, with its mysterious dead white spadix bearing 
no very far fetched resemblance to a dead man's 
finger wrapped in its green winding-sheet and whose 
grosser name, cuckoo-pint, is ready at hand. With 
this selection we have plants of the same situation 
flowering at the same time and all more or less bane- 
ful in their influence." 

The crow has given its name to many flowers. 
There are, indeed, more plants named for the crow 
than for any other bird: crowfoot, crow-toes, crow- 
bells (for daffodil and bluebells) crow-berry, crow- 
garlick, crow-leeks, crow-needles, and many others. 

LONG PURPLE {Arum masculatam or Orchis 
musculo) is very closely related to our woodland 
Jack-in-the-Pulpit. It has many names: Arum; 
Cookoo-pint, Cookoo-pintle, Wake-Robin, Friar' s- 
cowl, Lords-and-Ladies, Cow-and-Calves, Ramp, 
Starchwort, Bloody-men's-finger, and Gethsemane, 
as the plant is said to have been growing at the Cross 
and to have received some drops of the Savior's 
blood. This flower is mentioned in Tennyson's "A 
Dirge" : 

Round thee blow, self-pleached deep, 
Bramble roses, faint and pale, 
And long purples of the dale. 



210 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

Dr. Forbes Watson writes : 

"I use the old name Wake Robin because it is so 
full of poetry — to think of the bird aroused from 
sleep by the soundless ringing of the bell. Arum, or 
Lords and Ladies, is the more usual name." 

The plant is under the dominion of Mars, so the 
astrologers said. 

IX 

Saffron Crocus and Cuckoo-flowers 

SAFFRON CROCUS {Crocus verus sativus 
Autu?nnalis). Shakespeare speaks of saffron as a 
color — "the saffron wings of Iris" and "saffron to 
color the Warden [pear] pies." He never mentions 
the crocus from which the saffron was obtained, yet 
a Shakespeare garden should have this plant repre- 
sented. Saffron had long been known in England; 
for in the time of Edward III a pilgrim from the 
East had brought, concealed in his staff, a root of the 
precious Arabic al zahafaran. In Shakespeare's 
time saffron was used for soups and sauces and to 
color and flavor pies, cakes, and pastry-confection. 
Saffron was also important medicinally, and for 
dyeing silks and other materials. The beautiful 
orange-red stigmas, the crocei odores of Virgil, were 



"SWEET SUMMER BUDS" 211 

dried and the powder pressed into cakes and sold in 
the shops. 

"The true saffron," writes Parkinson, "that is 
used in meats and medicines, shooteth out his nar- 
row long green leaves first, and, after a while, the 
flowers, in the middle of them, appear about the 
end of August, in September and October, according 
to the soil and climate where they grow. These 
flowers are composed of six leaves apiece, of a mur- 
rey, or reddish purple color, having a show of blue 
in them. In the middle of these flowers there are 
some small yellow chives standing upright, which 
are unprofitable ; but, besides these, each flower hath 
two, three, or four greater and longer chives hanging 
down, upon, or between, the leaves, which are of a 
fiery red color and are the true blades of saffron 
which are used physically, or otherwise, and no 
other." 

The raising of saffron was a great industry. Old 
Tusser gave the good advice to 

Pare saffron plot, 

Forget it not. 
His dwelling made trim, 

Look shortly for him! 
When harvest is gone, 

Then Saffron comes on; 



212 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

A little of ground 

Brings Saffron a pound. 

Saffron Walden in Essex and Saffron Hill in 
London received their names because of the quantity 
of saffron crocus grown in those places. 

The saffron crocus is a handsome flower, but some- 
what capricious. Dr. Forbes Watson writes: 

"We look at the few well selected flowers in our 
hand and let our mind wander in the depths of those 
fair-striped cups, their color so fresh, so cool, so 
delicate, and yet not too cool, with that central yel- 
low stamen-column and the stigma emerging from it 
like a fiery orange lump. The Purple Crocus, partly 
from the full materials for color-contrast afforded 
by its interior, partly from the exceeding delicacy 
of tint, the lilac stripes and markings, the trans- 
parent veins and the pale watery lake which lies at 
the bottom of the cup, seem to bear us away to some 
enchanted spot, a fairy-land of color where no 
shadow ever falls — a land of dim eternal twilight 
and never fading flowers. Note, too, the differences 
between the Crocuses with regard to the stigma. In 
the Purple Crocus, where it is needed to complete 
the harmony of the flower, it rises long and flame- 
tipped out of the tall bundle of yellow stamens. 
Notice also the curve of the outside of the Purple 



"SWEET SUMMER BUDS" 213 

Crocus cup in a well-selected flower, and observe 
how quiet and solemnly beautiful it is in perfect 
harmony with the general expression." 

According to legend, the flower derived its name 
from a beautiful youth, Crocus, who was trans- 
formed into the flower. His love, Smilax, was 
changed at the same time into the delicate vine of 
that name. Another legend says that the flower 
sprang from the blood of the infant Crocus, who 
was accidentally killed by a disk thrown by the god 
Mercury. The Egyptians encircled their wine-cups 
with the saffron crocus; the Greeks and Romans 
adorned the nuptial couch with the saffron crocus; 
the robes of Hymen, god of marriage, were saffron- 
hued; and poets called the dawn saffron, or crocus- 
colored. Shakespeare, therefore, had authority for 
"the saffron wings of Iris." 

Saffron is an herb of the sun and is under the rule 
of Leo. 

CUCKOO-FLOWER {Lychnis Flos cuculi): 
Shakespeare mentions "cuckoo-flowers" in "King 
Lear,"^ in company with troublesome weeds. Cor- 
delia remarks: 

Crown'd with rank fumiter and furrow-weeds, 
With burdocks, hemlocks, nettles, cuckoo-flowers, 

*Act IV, Scene IV. 



214 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

Darnel, and all the idle weeds that grow 
On our sustaining corn. 

Shakespeare's cuckoo-flower is identified as the 
Ragged Robin, so called from its finely cut blue 
petals which have a ragged appearance. It is also 
known as the meadow campion, or Meadow Pink. 
Parkinson says: "Feathered Campions are called 
Armor aria pratensis and ¥los cucuU. Some call 
them in English Crow-flowers and Cuckowe Flowers, 
and some call the double hereof The Fair Maid of 
France." 

From the above we see why it is that the Ragged 
Robin has been identified by some authorities as 
Ophelia's crow-flower; for even Parkinson seems to 
consider the crow-flower and cuckoo-flower as iden- 
tical. Some of the old herbalists give the name 
cuckoo-flower to the lady-smock, which is called 
cuckoo-buds. The cuckoo's name is given to many 
flowers: we have the cuckoo-flower, cuckoo- 
buds, cuckoo' s-bread (wood-sorrel), cuckoo' s-meat, 
cuckoo-pint {Arum maculatum), cuckoo-grass; 
cuckoo-hood (blue corn-flower), etc. The cuckoo- 
flower (Ragged Robin) is dedicated to St. Barnabas. 



"SWEET SUMMER BUDS" 215 



Pomegranate and Myrtle 

THE POMEGRANATE {Punka) is a regal 
flower. Its burning beauty appeals to every one who 
loves color, for the scarlet of the pomegranate has a 
depth and a quality that is all its own. The crinkled 
silken petals, rising from a thick, red calix and set off 
by bright green leaves of wondrous glossy luster and 
prickly thorns, delight those who love beauty. 
Moreover, there is something luscious and strange 
about the pomegranate that makes us think of Orien- 
tal queens and the splendors of Babylon and Persia, 
ancient Egypt and Carthage. It is a flower that 
Dido might have worn in her hair, or Semiramis in 
garlands around her neck I 

Shakespeare knew perfectly well what he was 
doing when he placed a pomegranate beneath 
Juliet's window, amid whose leaves and flowers the 
nightingale sang so beautifully. The pomegranate 
was exactly the flower to typify the glowing passion 
of the youthful lovers. 

"There are two kinds of pomegranate trees," 
writes Parkinson, "the one tame or manured, bearing 
fruit; the other wild, which beareth no fruit, be- 



2i6 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

cause it beareth double flowers, like as the Cherry, 
Apple and Peach-tree with double blossoms. 

"The wild Pomegranate {Balustium mains sive 
Mains Pnnica) is like unto the tame in the number 
of purplish branches, having thorns and shining fair 
green leaves, somewhat larger than the former. 
From the branches likewise shoot forth flowers far 
more beautiful than those of the tame, or manured, 
sort, because they are double, and as large as a 
double Province Rose, or rather more double, of an 
excellent bright crimson color, tending to a silken 
carnation, standing in brownish cups or husks, di- 
vided at the brims usually into four, or five, several 
points like unto the former, but that in this kind 
there never followeth any fruit, no not in the coun- 
try where it is naturally wild. The wild, I think, 
was never seen in England before John Tradescant, 
my very loving good friend, brought it from the 
parts beyond the seas and planted it in his Lord's 
Garden at Canterbury. The rind of the Pome- 
granate is used to make the best sort of writing Ink, 
which is durable to the world's end." 

The pomegranate was from the dawn of history 
a favorite with Eastern peoples. It is represented 
in ancient Assyrian and Egyptian sculpture and had 



"SWEET SUMMER BUDS" 217 

a religious significance in connection with several 
Oriental cults. 

The tree was abundant in ancient Egypt and the 
fruit was such a favorite of the Israelites that one 
complaint against the desert into which Moses led 
them was the charge that it was "no place of pome- 
granates," and Moses had to soothe the malcontents 
by promising that the pomegranate would be among 
the delights of Canaan, "a land of wheat and bar- 
ley, vines and fig-trees and pomegranates, a land of 
olive oil and honey." The pomegranate was one 
of the commonest fruits of Canaan, and several 
places were named after it — Rimmon. The Jews 
employed the pomegranate in their religious cere- 
monies. On the hem of Aaron's sacred robe pome- 
granates were embroidered in blue and purple and 
scarlet alternating with golden bells, — an adorn- 
ment that was copied from the ancient kings of 
Persia. The pomegranate was also carved on the 
capitals of the pillars of the Temple of Jerusalem. 
Solomon said to his bride, "I will cause thee to drink 
of spiced wine of the juice of my pomegranates." 
There is a tradition that the pomegranate was the 
fruit of the Tree of Life and that it was the pome- 
granate that Eve gave to Adam. 



2i8 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

The Romans called it the Carthaginian apple. 
The pomegranate abounded in Carthage and derives 
its botanical name, Punica, from this place. Pliny 
says that the pomegranate came to Rome from Car- 
thage; but its original home was probably Persia or 
Babylon. It was early introduced into Southern 
Europe and was taken to Spain from Africa. 
Granada took its name from the fruits and the Arms 
of the province display a split pomegranate. Around 
Genoa and Nice there are whole hedges of it — 
rising to the height sometimes of twenty feet. It 
was introduced into England in Henry VIIFs time, 
carried there among others by Katharine of Aragon, 
who used it for her device. Gerard grew pome- 
granates in his garden. Many legends are con- 
nected with the pomegranate, not the least being 
that of Proserpine. When the distracted Ceres 
found her daughter had been carried off by Pluto, 
she begged Jupiter to restore her. Jupiter replied 
that he would do so if she had eaten nothing in the 
realms of the Underworld. Unfortunately, Pluto 
had given her a pomegranate and Proserpine had 
eaten some of the seeds. She could not return. The 
sorrow of Ceres was so great that a compromise was 
made and the beautiful maiden thereafter spent six 
months in the Underworld with her husband and six 



"SWEET SUMMER BUDS" 219 

months with her mother above ground — a beautiful 
story of the life of the seed I 

In nearly all the legends of the East in which 
the word "apple" is mentioned it is the pomegranate 
that is intended. It is said to have been the fruit 
presented by Paris to Venus, and it is always asso- 
ciated with love and marriage. 

In Christian art the pomegranate is depicted as 
bursting open and showing the seeds. This is inter- 
preted as both a promise and an emblem of hope in 
immortality. St. Catharine, the mystical bride of 
Christ, is sometimes represented with a pomegranate 
in her hand. The infant Savior is also often repre- 
sented as holding the fruit and offering it to the 
Virgin: Botticelli's "Madonna of the Melagrana" 
is a famous example. 

There is also a legend that because the pome- 
granate was planted on the grave of King Eteocles, 
the fruit has exuded blood ever since. The number 
of seeds has caused it to become the symbol of 
fecundity, generation, and wealth. 

MYRTLE {Myrtus latifolid) was looked upon 
in Shakespeare's time as a delicate and refined rarity, 
emblem of charming beauty and denoting peaceful- 
ness, plenty, repose, and love. Shakespeare makes 
Venus and Adonis meet under a myrtle shade; he 



220 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

speaks of "the soft myrtle" in "Measure for 
Measure" ; and he alludes "to the moon-dew on the 
myrtle leaf," which is as delicate a suggestion of 
the evening perfume as the "morning roses newly 
washed with dew" is of the scents at dawn. 

"We nourish Myrtles with great care," says Par- 
kinson, "for the beautiful aspect, sweet scent and 
rarity, as delights and ornaments for a garden of 
pleasure, wherein nothing should be wanting that 
art, care and cost might produce and preserve. 

"The broad-leafed Myrtle riseth up to the height 
of four or five foot at the most with us, full of 
branches and leaves, growing like a small bush, the 
stem and elder branches whereof are covered with 
a dark colored bark, but the young with a green and 
some with a red, especially upon the first shooting 
forth, whereon are set many fresh green leaves very 
sweet in smell and very pleasant to behold, so near 
resembling the leaves of the Pomegranate tree that 
groweth with us that they soon deceive m.any that 
are not expert therein, being somewhat broad and 
long and pointed at the ends, abiding always green. 
At the joints of the branches, where the leaves stand, 
come forth the flowers upon small footstalks, every 
one by itself, consisting of five small white leaves. 



"SWEET SUMMER BUDS" 221 

with white threads in the middle, smelling also very 
sweet." 

According to the Greeks, Myrtle was a priestess 
of Venus and an especial favorite of the goddess, 
who, wishing to preserve her from a too ardent 
suitor, turned her into this plant, which continues 
odorous and green throughout the year. Having 
the virtue of creating and preserving love and being 
consecrated to Venus, the mrytle was symbolic of 
love. Consequently it was used for the wreaths of 
brides, as the orange-blossom is to-day. Venus wore 
a wreath of myrtle when Paris awarded her the 
Golden Apple for beauty, — perhaps in memory of 
the day when she sprang from the foam of the sea 
and, wafted ashore by Zephyrus, was crowned with 
myrtle by the Morning Hours I Myrtle was always 
planted around the temples dedicated to Venus. 

Rapin writes: 

When once, as Fame reports, the Queen of Love 

In Ida's valley raised a Myrtle grove, 

Young wanton Cupids danced a summer's night 

Round the sweet place by Cynthia's silver light. 

Venus this charming green alone prefers, 

And this of all the verdant kind is hers : 

Hence the bride's brow with Myrtle wreath is graced, 

Hence in Elysian Fields are myrtles said 



222 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

To favor lovers with their friendly shade, 

There Phaedra, Procris (ancient poets feign) 

And Eriphyle still of love complain 

Whose unextinguished flames e'en after death remain. 

The Romans always displayed myrtle lavishly 
at weddings, feasts, and on all days celebrating vic- 
tories. With the Hebrews the myrtle was the 
symbol of peace; and among many Oriental races 
there is a tradition that Adam brought a slip of 
myrtle from the Garden of Eden because he consid- 
ered it the choicest of fragrant flowers. 

The myrtle was early loved in England. In one 
of the old Roxburgh Ballads of the Fifteenth Cen- 
tury a lover presses his suit by promising : 

And I will make the beds of Roses, 
And a thousand fragrant posies ; 
A cap of flowers and a kirtle 
Embroidered with leaves of myrtle. 

In those days and long afterward there was a / 
saying that "if you want to be sure of your myrtle / 
taking root, then you must spread out your dress > 
grandly and look proud" when you are planting 
your slip. We can imagine one of the Fifteenth Cen- 
tury ladies spreading her voluminous and flowing 
robes with majestic grace and holding her head 
adorned with the tall pointed cap, or hennin^ with 



"SWEET SUMMER BUDS" 223 

veil fluttering from its peak as she planted the little 
flower in her tiny walled Garden of Delight I 

There is a saying, too, that one must never pass 
a sweet myrtle bush without picking a spray. The 
flowering myrtle is considered the luckiest of all 
plants to have in the window, but it must be watered 
every day. 



Autumn 

"HERBS OF GRACE" AND "DRAMS OF 
POISON" 



Rosemary and Rue 

ROSEMARY {Rosmarinus officinalis'). Rose- \ 
mary "delights in sea-spray," whence its 
name. "The cheerful Rosemary," as Spen- / 
ser calls it, was in high favor in Shakespeare's day. / 
The plant was not only allowed a corner in the / 
kitchen-garden; but it was trained over arbors and \ 
allowed to run over the mounds and banks pretty 
much at its own sweet will. "As for Rosemarie," 
said Sir Thomas More, "I let it run all over my gar- 
den walls, not only because my bees love it, but be- 
cause it is the herb sacred t3 remembrance, and, 
therefore, to friendship ; whence a spray of it hath a 
dumb language that maketh it the chosen emblem 
at our funeral-wakes and in our burial-grounds." 
Ophelia handed a sprig of rosemary to her brother 

with the words: "There 's rosemary; That 's for re- 

224 








"a curious-knotted garden," vredeman de vries 



m 


^ 






HW!j»|jFfnn'c^riy^^%a 


^ ti 






■■■■"T |- I"-- r 


?pf- 






i^:^ .^ 




LlUI'"i'ii;'llilil'lllliiiii^'^ 


^ 




m 


lUi -^'^i"^ 




S.-!..> ■ '^^, 


. ii)^. 




n^ 








Zk^i^ir^wi £ 




LASSt-^ 




SSi*^^i^ 




.^'^'IV 


i^ 








'„■''-' ' *,f '*'.'■' --,- *- 




IP 


«l«^«^m»1 :L :■■>.. 


#««:^f 


M^:.::^..::.! 


"^ 


ia»i«*fJt»i(«iafc;iMaaS»^3ii.3;,..;; ; _ ,'.■■■:"--:.:;:'...- 



GARDEN WITH ARBORS, VREDEMAN DE VRIES 



"HERBS OF GRACE" 22^ 

membrance; pray you, love, remember." Probably 
she knew the old song in the "Handful of Pleasant 
Delights" ^ where occurs the verse: l^ 

Rosemary is for remembrance 

Between us day and night, 
Wishing that I might always have 

You present in my sight. 

Rosemary was used profusely at weddings 
among the decorations and the strewings on the 
floor. A sprig of it was always placed in the wine 
to insure the bride's happiness. 

The herb was also conspicuous at funerals, 
naturally enough as the herb was emblematic of re- 
membrance. The ¥riar in "Romeo and Juliet" ex- 
claims : 

Dry up your tears and stick your rosemary ^ 
On this fair corse.^ 

Sometimes the plant was associated with rue as when 
in "The Winter's Tale" ^ Perdita says, 

Give me those flowers, Dorcas : — reverend sirs, 
For you there 's rosemary and rue ; these keep 
Seeming and savour the whole winter through. 

Most important was rosemary at Christmas-tide] 
It had a place among the holly, bay, ivy, and mistle- 

* See p. 127. 

"Act IV, Scene V. 

"Act IV, Scene III. 



226 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

toe to which it added its peculiar and delicious per- 
fume. Moreover, it was said that rosemary brought 
happiness to those who used it among the Christmas 
decorations. 

Rosemary also garlanded that most important \ 
dish of ceremony — the boar's head, which the butler 
(or sewer) bore into the hall of great houses and 
famous institutions, like the colleges of Oxford and 
Cambridge and the City Companies, on a silver dish, 
preceded by a flourish of trumpets. The carol he 
sung began: 

The boar's head in hand bring I, 
With garland gay and rosemary. 

Lyte said: "Rosemary comforteth the brain and 
restoreth speech, especially the conserve made of 
the flowers thereof with sugar." Worn on the per- 
son it was thought to strengthen the memory and 
to make the wearer successful in everything. The 
famous Hungary-water, so favorite a perfume in 
the days of Elizabeth and after, was distilled from 
rosemary. The leaves were used as a flavor in cook- 
ing (just as the Italians use it to-day). Placed in 
chests and wardrobes, rosemary preserved clothing 
from insidious moth. According to astrologers, 
rosemary was an herb of the sun. 



"HERBS OF GRACE" 227 

"The common Rosemary {Libanotis Coronaria 
sive Rosmarinum vulgare) is so well known," says 
Parkinson, "through all our land, being in every 
woman's garden, that it were sufficient to name it as 
an ornament among other sweet herbs and flowers 
in our gardens, seeing every one can describe it; but 
that I may say something of it, it is well observed, 
as well in this our Land (where it hath been planted 
in Noblemen's and great men's gardens against brick 
walls) as beyond the Seas in the natural places 
where it groweth, that it riseth up unto a very great 
height, with a great and woody stem of that compass 
that, being cloven out into thin boards, it hath served 
to make lutes, or such-like instruments, and here 
with carpenter's rules and to divers other purposes, 
branching out into divers and sundry arms that ex- 
tend a great way and from them again into many 
other smaller branches whereon are set at several 
distances at the joints, many very narrow long 
leaves, green above and whitish underneath, among 
which come forth toward the tops of the stalks, 
divers sweet gaping flowers, of a pale or bleak bluish 
color, many set together, standing in whitish husks. 
The whole plant as well, leaves as flowers, smelleth 
exceeding sweet. 

"Rosemary is called by the ancient writers 



228 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

Libanotis^ but with this difference, Stephanomatica^ 
that is Coronaria^ because there were other plants 
called Libanotis^ that were for other uses, as this for 
garlands, where flowers and sweet herbs were put 
together. The Latins called it Ros?narinum. Some 
would make it to be Cueorum nigru7n of Theophras- 
tus, as they would make Lavender to be his Cueorum 
alburn^ but Matthiolus hath sufficiently confuted 
that error. 

"Rosemary is almost of as great use as Bays or 
any other herb, both for inward and outward 
remedies and as well for civil as physical purposes. 
Inwardly for the head and heart ; outwardly for the 
sinews and joints. For civil uses, as all do know, 
at weddings, funerals, etc., to bestow among friends; 
and the physical are so many that you might be as 
well tired in the reading as I in the writing, if I 
should set down all that might be said of it." 

RUE {Ruta graveolus). Rue was a much valued 
plant in Shakespeare's time. There were many 
superstitions about it which seem to have been sur- 
vivals from ancient days, for rue is supposed to have 
been the moly which Homer says Mercury gave to 
Ulysses to withstand the enchantments of Circe. 
Miraculous powers were attributed to rue: it was 
said to quicken the sight, to stir up the spirits, to 



"HERBS OF GRACE" 229 

sharpen the wit, to cure madness, and to cause the 
dumb to speak. It was also an excellent antidote 
against poison and the very smell of it insured 
preservation against the plague. Rue was, there- 
fore, very popular and was much used as a disin- 
fectant. 

Parkinson tells us : 

Garden Rue (Ruta), or Herbe Grace, groweth 
up with hard whitish woody stalks whereon are set 
divers branches of leaves being divided into many 
small ones, which are somewhat thick and round 
pointed, of a bluish-green color. The flowers stand 
at the tops of the stalks, consisting of four small 
yellow leaves, with a green button in the middle, 
and divers small yellow threads about it, which 
growing ripe, contain within them small black seeds. 

"The many good properties whereunto Rue 
serveth hath, I think, in former times caused the 
English name of Herbe Grace to be given unto it. 
For without doubt it is a most wholesome herb, al- 
though bitter and strong. Some do wrap up a bead 
roll of the virtues of Rue, as Macer the poet and 
others, in whom you shall find them set down to be 
good for the head, eyes, breast, liver, heart, spleen, 
etc." 

Gerard quaintly said: 



230 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

"It is reported that if a man be anointed with the 
juice of rue, the bitings of serpents, scorpions, wasps, 
etc., will not hurt him. When the weasel is to fight 
with the serpent, she armeth herself by eating rue 
against the might of the serpent." 

Another quaint idea was that rue throve best if a 
clipping from the plant was stolen from a neighbor's 
garden. Like rosemary, rue was considered by the 
astrologers as an herb of the sun and was placed 
under the sign of Leo. 

Rue was also called the herb of grace and the 
"serving man's joy." Shakespeare frequently refers 
to the herb o' grace: once in connection with salad 
in "All 's Well That Ends Well." ' 

Ophelia has rue among her flowers when she dis- 
tributes appropriate blossoms to the courtiers. She 
says: 

There 's rue for you ; and some for me ; 
We may call it herb of grace o' Sundays. 
Oh, you must wear your rue with a difference. 

Again we find rue in the Duke of York's garden 
in "King Richard IL" After the sad queen and 
her ladies have departed, bewailing the news of the ' 
king's deposition, the gardener, looking after them, 
exclaims : 

* See p. 237. 



"HERBS OF GRACE" 231 

Poor queen ! So that thy state might be no worse, 
I would my skill were subject to thy curse. — 
Here did she fall a tear ; here, in this place, 
I '11 set a bank of rue, sour herb of grace : 
Rue, even for ruth, here shortly shall be seen. 
In the remembrance of a weeping queen.^ 



II 

Lavender^ Mints, and Fennel 

LAVENDER {Lavendula Spica). "Hot laven- 
der," Ferdita calls it. Why is this'? Turning to 
Gerard for an explanation, we find he says : "Laven- 
der is hot and dry in the third degree and of a sub- 
stance consisting of many airy and spiritual parts." 
Gerard had lavender in his garden and so did Parkin- 
son, who says: 

"It is called of some Nardus I talk a and Laven- 
dula, the greater is called Fcemina and the lesser 
Mas. We do call them generally Lavender, or 
Lavender Spike, and the Lesser Spike. Lavender 
is little used in physic but outwardly: the oil for 
cold and benumbed parts and is almost wholly spent 
with us for to perfume linen, apparrell, gloves, 
leather, etc., and the dried flowers to comfort and y 
dry up the moisture of a cold brain. ^ 

*Act III, Scene IV. 



232 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

"Our ordinary Garden Lavender riseth up with 
a hard woody stem about the ground parted into 
many small branches whereon are set whitish long 
and narrow leaves by couples; from among which 
riseth up naked square stalks with two leaves at a 
joint and at the top divers small husks standing 
round about them formed in long or round heads or 
spikes with purple gaping flowers springing out of 
each of them. The heads of the flowers are used 
to be put among linen and apparrell." 

Because of its scent, lavender was often included 
in the nosegay. Lavender was much loved by sweet- 
hearts. In the "Handful of Pleasant Delights" 
(1584) it is described thus: 

Lavender is for lovers true, 

Whichever more be saine, 
Desiring always for to have 

Some pleasure for their pain. 
And when that they obtained have 

The Love that they require, 
Then have they all their perfect joy 

And quenched is the fire. 

Lavender belongs to the crowfoot family, and there- 
fore is related to the columbine, buttercup, and 
monk's-hood (aconite). The ancients used it in 
their baths, whence the name from the Latin lavare^ 
to wash. The Elizabethans loved, as we do to-day, 



\ 



"HERBS OF GRACE" 233 

to place bags of dried lavender among the household 
linen. 

MINTS {Mentha). Mints occur in Perditas 
list with "hot lavender, thyme and savory." AW 
though many kinds of mint were cultivated in gar- 
dens, Parkinson mentions only three : 

"The Red Mint, or Brown Mint, with dark green 
nicked leaves, reddish flowers and of a reasonable 
good scent; Speare Mint, greener and paler leaves, 
with flowers growing in long ears, or spikes, of a 
pale red, or blush, color; and Parti-colored, or 
White Mint, with leaves more nicked, half white 
and half green, and flowers in long heads, close set 
together of a bluish color. 

"Mints are oftentimes used in baths with Balm 
and other herbs as a help to comfort and strengthen 
the nerves and sinews, either outwardly applied or 
inwardly drunk. Applied with salt, it is a good 
help for the biting of a mad dog. It is used to be 
boiled with mackerel and other fish. Being dried, 
it is often and much used with pennyroyal to put 
into puddings, as also among pease that are boiled 
for pottage." , 

In Elizabethan days it was the custom to strew 
churches with mint. In an Elizabethan play, 
"Appius and Virginia," these lines occur : 



234 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

Thou knave, but for thee ere this time of day 
My lady's fair pew had been strewed full gay 
With primroses, cowslips and violets sweet, 
With mints, with marigold and marjoram meek. 

Pliny said "the smell of mint doth stir up the 
mind and taste to a greedy desire of meat." This 
carries mint-sauce back into antiquity I Medieval 
writers believed that the smell of mint refreshed 
the head and memory; and in Medieval days the 
herb was dedicated to the Virgin and called Herba 
Sancta Maricz and Men the de Notre Dame. The 
ancients dedicate it to Venus; hence it was used as 
a garland for brides — corona Veneris. The old myth 
had it that Menthe was a nymph beloved of Pluto 
and transformed into an herb by Proserpina who had 
now become sufficiently interested in the husband 
who had carried her off against her will to be jealous. 
j FFjNNEL (Fceniculum vulgare). Falstaff spesks 
of fennel as a relish for conger in "King Henry 
IV" ; ^ and Ophelia presents fennel to the King to 
clear his sight just as she gave rosemary to Laertes 
to refresh his memory,^ for according to a belief held 
by Pliny: "Fennel hath a wonderful property to 

*Act II, Scene IV. 

* "There's fennel for you and columbines" ('*Hamlet"; Act IV, 
Scene V). 



"HERBS OF GRACE" 235 

mundify our sight and take away the film, or web, 
that overcasteth and dimmeth our eyes." 

'There are three sorts of Fennel," says Parkin- 
son, "whereof two are sweet. The one of them is 
the ordinary sweet fennel whose seeds are larger 
and yellower than the common. The other sweet 
Fennel is not much known and called Cardus Fen- 
nel by those that sent it out of Italy. Fennel is of 
great use to trim up and strew upon fish, as also to 
boil, or put among fish of divers sorts, Cowcumbers 
pickled and other fruits, etc. The roots are used 
with parsley roots to be boiled in broths and drinks. 
The seed is much used to be put into pippin pies 
and divers other such baked fruits, as also into bread 
to give it the better relish. 

"The Sweet Cardus Fennel being sent by Sir 
Henry Wotton to John Tradescant had likewise a 
large direction with it how to dress it, for they used 
to white it after it hath been transplanted for their 
uses, which by reason of the sweetness by nature 
and the tenderness of art causeth it to be most de- 
lightful to the taste, especially with them that are 
accustomed to feed on green herbs." 

Another ancient belief preserved by Pliny was 
"that serpents eat fennel because it restored their 



236 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

youth by causing them to cast their old skins and 
they recovered their sight by eating the plant." 

The flowers of the fennel are yellow. 

The Greek name for fermel is marathon. The 
Battle of Marathon took its name from the plant. 
The story goes that a youth named Pheidippides 
ran to Sparta to seek aid for Athens when the Per- 
sian fleet appeared, and he was told that the Spartans 
could not come until after the full moon. Very 
disheartened, he was returning to Athens when Pan 
appeared to him and promised victory, giving the 
youth a piece of fennel as a token of his prophecy. 
The battle took place on a field full of fennel and 
was known henceforth as the Battle of Marathon 
(490 B. c). Statues of the youth always repre- 
sented him as holding a sprig of fennel. Brown- 
ing has told the story in his "Pheidippides." 

Ill 

Siveet Marjoram, Thyme, and Savory 

MARJORAM {Origanum vulgare) was a favo- 
rite plant in Tudor and Stuart times. An old writer 
informs us that "Sweet Marjoram is not only much 
used to please the outward sense in nosegays and 
in the windows of houses, as also in sweet powders. 



"HERBS OF GRACE" 237 

sweet bays and sweet washing waters, but is also of 
much use in physic." 

Perdita classes it with hot lavender and savory/ 
Shakespeare, appreciating its delicate and delight- 
ful scent, brings this out most beautifully in his 
"Sonnet XCIX" : 

The forward violet thus did I chide : — 
Sweet thief, whence didst thou steal thy sweet that smells 
If not from my love's breath ? The purple pride 
Which on thy soft cheek for complexion dwells, 
In my love's veins thou hast too grossly dyed. 
_The lily I condemned for thy hand. 
And buds of marjoram had stolen thy hair. 

This comparison is even more lovely than Milton's 
description of Sabrina with her "loose braid of 
amber-dropping hair." 

In Shakespeare's time several species were grown: 
the common, the winter, and the sweet. They were 
all favorite pot-herbs and were used in salads, if 
we may believe the Clown in "All 's Well That' 
Ends Well" : 

Lafen. 'T was a good lady, 't was a good lady ; we may 
pick a thousand sallets ere we light on such an- 
other herb. 

Clown. Indeed, sir, she was the Sweet Marjoram of the 
sallet, or, rather, the Herb of Grace. 

'"The Winter's Tale"; Act IV, Scene III. 



238 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

Lafen. They are not sallet-herbs, you knave, they are 

nose-herbs. 
Clown. I am no great Nebuchadnezzar; sir, I have not 

much skill in grass.^ 

Parkinson writes: 

"The common Sweet Marjoram {Marierome) is 
a low herb, little above a foot high, full of branches 
and small whitish, soft, roundish leaves, smelling 
very sweet. At the tops of the branches stand divers 
small, scaly heads, like unto knots, of a whitish 
green color, out of which come, here and there, small, 
white flowers, and afterward small reddish seed. 
Called Mariorama in Latin, it is taken of most 
writers to be the Amaracus, or Sampsuchum, of 
Dioscorides, Theophrastus and Pliny." 

According to the Greek myth a young man named 
Amarakos was employed in the household of the 
King of Cyprus. One day when he was carrying a 
vase of perfumes he dropped it, and he was so much 
humiliated by his carelessness that he fell and lost 
consciousness. The gods then changed him into 
the sweet herb amarakos^ or amaracus^ which is the 
Greek name for this plant. Rapin thought it owed 
its existence to Venus : 

And tho' Sweet Marjoram will your garden paint 
With no gay colors, yet preserve the plant, 
*Act IV, Scene V. 



"HERBS OF GRACE" 239 

Whose fragrance will invite your kind regard 
When her known virtues have her worth declared ; 
On Simois' shore fair Venus raised the plant. 
Which from the Goddess' touch derived her scent. 

THYME {Thymus Serpyllum). Thyme has al- 
ways been appreciated by those who delight in 
aromatic perfume. It was one of those plants that 
Lord Bacon said were so delicious when trodden 
upon and crushed. Thyme was the symbol for 
sweetness in Elizabethan days. 

And sweet thyme true 

was a favorite expression. "Sweet thyme true" 
occurs in connection with roses, "maiden pinks,' 
and daisies in the song in "The Two Noble Kins- 
men." ^ 

Fairies were thought to be particularly fond of| 
thyme, and that is one reason why Shakespeare 
covered the bank where Titania was wont to sleep 
with wild thyme. The other reason was that he 
chose the sweetest flowers for perfume for the 
canopy and couch of the Fairy Queen: musk-roses, 
eglantine, honeysuckle, violets, and wild thyme 
mingling the most delicious of scents. The word 
comes from the Greek and Latin thy mum. Thyme 

*Act I, Scene I. 



240 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

covered Mount Hymettus and gave to the honey 
produced there a particularly delicious aromatic 
flavor. The "honey of Mount Hymettus" became 
a proverb. Hybla in Sicily was no less famed for 
its thyme, and, consequently, its honey. Thyme is 
especially a "bee-plant"; and those who would see 
their gardens full of bees would do well to plant 
thyme with lavish hand. Ladies used to embroider 
a bee hovering over a sprig of thyme on the scarves 
they gave to their lovers — a symbol of action and 
honor. Thyme, too, was supposed to renew the 
spirits of man and beast and it was deemed a power- 
ful antidote against melancholy. 

Turning to our old friend, Parkinson, we find 
that 

"The ordinary garden Thyme {Thymus vulga- 
tius sive durius) is a small, low, woody plant with 
brittle branches and small, hard, green leaves, as 
every one knoweth, having small white purplish 
flowers standing round about the tops of the stalks. 
The seed is small and brown, darker than Marjoram. 
The root is woody and abideth well divers Winters. 

"To set down all the particular uses whereunto 
Thyme is applied were to weary both the writer and 
the reader. I will but only note out a few, for be- 
sides the physical uses to many purposes for the 




SHAKESPEARE GARnEN, VAN CORTI.ANDT HOUSE, VAN CORTLANDT PARK, COLONIAL 
DAMES OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 




SHAKESPEARE GARDEN, VAN CORTLANDT HOUSE, VAN CORTLANDT PARK, COLONIAL 
DAMES OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 



"HERBS OF GRACE" 241 

head, stomach, spleen, etc., there is no herb almost 
of more use in the houses both of high and low, rich 
and poor, both for inward and outward occasions, 
— outwardly for bathings among other hot herbs 
and among other sweet herbs for strewings. In- 
wardly in most sorts of broths, with Rosemary, as 
also with other faseting (or rather farsing) herbs,^ 
and to make sauce for divers sorts, both fish and 
flesh, as to stuff the belly of a goose to be roasted 
and after put into the sauce and the powder with 
bread to strew on meat when it is roasted, and so 
likewise on roasted or fried fish. It is held by divers 
to be a speedy remedy against the sting of a bee, 
being bruised and laid thereon. 

"The wild Thyme {Serpyllum hortense sive 
mains) ^ growth upright, but yet is low, with divers 
slender branches and small round green leaves, 
somewhat like unto small fine Marjoram, and smell- 
ing somewhat like unto it. The flowers grow in 
roundels at the tops of the branches of a purplish 
color. And in another of this kind they are of a 
pure white color. There is another also that smelleth 
somewhat like unto Musk, and therefore called 
Musk Thyme, whose green leaves are not so small 
as the former, but larger and longer." 

'^ Tarsi, stuffing. 



242 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

SAVORY {Satureia). This herb is mentioned by 
Perdita. It was a great favorite in the old herb- 
garden and was probably introduced into England 
by the Romans. It is mentioned in Anglo-Saxon 
recipes as "savorie." Both the winter and summer 
savory were used as seasoning for dressing and 
sauces. "The Winter Savory is used as a condiment 
and sauce to meat, to put into puddings, sausages 
and such-like kinds of meat." So says an old writer, 
who continues: "Some do use the powder of the 
herb dried to mix with grated bread to bread their 
meat, be it fish or flesh, to give it the quicker relish," 

Parkinson writes : 

"The Winter Savory {Satureia sive Thymbra) is 
a small, low, bushy herb, very like unto hyssop, but 
not above a foot high, with divers small, hard 
branches and hard, dark, green leaves thereon, 
thicker set together than the former by so much, and 
as thick as common Hyssop, sometimes with four 
leaves, or more, at a joint, of a reasonable strong 
scent, yet not so strong or quick as the former. 
The flowers are of a pale purplish color, set at sev- 
eral distances at the tops of the stalks with leaves 
at the joints also with them, like the former. The 
root is woody with divers small strings thereat, and 
abideth all the winter with his green leaves. It is 



"HERBS OF GRACE" 243 

more usually increased by slipping, or dividing, the 
root and new setting it, severally again in the Spring, 
than by sowing the seed." 

IV 

Siveet Balm and Camomile 

SWEET BALM {Melissa officinalis). Sweet 
Anne Page commanded the elves to bestow good 
luck throughout Windsor Castle : ^ 

The several chairs of order look you scour 
With juice of balm and every precious flower. 

The Greek and Latin names, melissa, mellis- 
sophyllutn, and apiastrum, show that this was a bee- 
plant, which was still the case in Shakespeare's time. 

"It is an herb," says Parkinson, "wherein bees do 
much delight" ; and he also tells us that if balm 
is rubbed on the inside of the hive "it draweth others 
to resort thither." He goes on to describe it as fol- 
lows: 

"The Garden Balm hath divers square blackish 
green stalks and round, hard, dark, green pointed 
leaves growing thereon by couples, a little notched 
about the edges; of a pleasant sweet scent drawing 
near to the scent of a Lemon or Citron; and there- 

*"The Merry Wives of Windsor"; Act V, Scene V. 



244 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

fore of some called Citrago. The flowers grow about 
the tops of the stalks at certain distances, being small 
and gaping, of a pale carnation color, almost white. 
The roots fasten themselves strongly on the ground 
and endure many years. It is increased by dividing 
the roots; for the leaves die down to the ground 
every year, leaving no show of leaf or stalk in the 
Winter. Balm is often used among other hot and 
sweet herbs to make baths and washings for men's 
bodies in the Summer time. The herb without all 
question is an excellent help to comfort the heart, 
as the very smell may induce any so to believe. It 
is also good to heal green wounds being made into 
salve. I verily think that our forefathers hearing 
of the healing and comfortable properties of the true 
natural Balm and finding this herb to be so effectual 
gave it the name of Balm in imitation of his prop- 
erties and virtues." 

Arabian physicians recommended balm for affec- 
tions of the heart and hypochondria. 

CAMOMILE {Anthetnis nobilis). Falstaff 
points a moral in the lowly camomile : "Though the 
Camomile the more it is trodden on the faster it 
grows, yet youth the more it is wasted the sooner 
it wears." * A similar idea occurs in Lyly's 

'"King Henry IV"; Part I, Act II, Scene IV. 



"HERBS OF GRACE" 245 

"Euphues" (1588): "Though the Camomile the 

more it is trodden and pressed down the more it 

spreadeth, yet the violet the oftener it is handled 

and touched, the sooner it withereth and decayeth." 

Emblem of patience, the camomile was often used 

to point a moral and to teach patience. In "The 

More the Merrier" (1608), a character observes: 

The Camomile shall teach thee patience, 
Which riseth best when trodden most upon. 

Because its scent was brought out when trodden 
upon, camomile was planted in and along walks and 
on the edges of flower-beds. Its low growth and 
delicious perfume made it a very attractive border 
plant. 

In Lawson's "New Orchard" (about 1616) there 
are instructions for "Large walks, broad and long, 
close and open like the Tempe groves in Thessaly, 
raised with gravel and sand, having seats and banks 
of Camomile : all this delights the mind and brings 
health to the body." 

In Shakespeare's day camomile grew in "the wild 
field by Richmond Green." 

"Our ordinary Camomill [says Parkinson] is well 
known to all to have many small trailing branches 
set with very fine small leaves and spreading thick 
over the ground taking root as it spreadeth ; the tops 



246 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

of the branches have white flowers with yellow 
thrums in the middle, very like unto the Featherfew, 
but somewhat greater not so hard but more soft and 
gentle in handling and the whole herb is to be of a 
very sweet scent. 

"Camomill is called Anthe??iis Leucanthemis and 
heucantlfiemum of the whiteness of the flowers; and 
Chamcsmcelum of the corrupted Italian name Camo- 
milla. Some call the naked Camomill Chrysanthe- 
mum odoratum. The double Camomill is called by 
some Chamcsmcelum Romanum flore 7nultipUci. 

"Camomill is put to divers and sundry uses both 
for pleasure and profit; both for inward and out- 
ward diseases, both for the sick and the sound, in 
bathings to comfort and strengthen the sound and 
to ease pains in the diseased. The flowers boiled 
in posset drink provoketh sweat and helpeth to expel 
colds, aches and other griefs. A syrup made of 
the juice of the double Camomill with the flowers 
and white wine is used by some against jaundice 
and dropsy." 

V 

Dian's Bud and Monk's-hood Blue 

DIAN'S BUD {Artemesia). This plant is noth- 
ing more nor less than absinthe, or wormwood. It is 



"HERBS OF GRACE" 247 

mentioned under its poetic name by Shakespeare in 
"A Midsummer Night's Dream" when Oberon bids 
Puck find him the "little purple flower called Love 
in Idleness," the juice of which placed on sleeping 
eyelids would make man, or woman, madly dote on 
the first object beheld on awakening, and with which 
he intended to anoint the eyelids of the sleeping 
Titania. He also told the mischievous sprite that 
the charm could be removed with another herb — 
Dian's bud, the flower sacred to the goddess Diana. 
Later in the play, touching the eyes of the spell- 
bound fairy with this second herb, Oberon pro- 
nounces the following incantation: 

Be as thou was wont to be, 
See as thou was wont to see; 
Dian's bud on Cupid's flower 
Hath such force and blessed power. 

From the earliest times absinthe was associated 
with sorcery and was used for incantations. Pliny 
says the traveler who carried it about him would 
never grow weary and that it would drive away any 
lurking devils and counteract the evil eye. Ovid 
calls it absinthium and speaks of its bitterness. 

The Greeks also called it artemesia after the god- 
dess Artemis, or Diana, and made it a moon-plant. 



248 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

Very poetically, therefore, Shakespeare alludes to 
it as "Dian's Bud," — and most appropriately does, 
it appear in the moon-lit forest. Gerard, however, 
quaintly says that is was named for Queen Arteme- 
sia, wife of Mausolus, King of Caria, who built the 
Mausoleum, which was one of the "Seven Wonders 
of the World." The ancients liked its flavor in their 
wine as many people still like vermouth, one of its 
infusions. 

In Shakespeare's time people hung up sprays of 
wormwood to drive away moths and fleas ; and there 
was a homely verse : 

Whose chamber is swept and wormwood is thrown I 
No flea for his life dare abide to be known. I 

Wormwood was also kept in drawers and closets. 
To dream of the plant was of good augury: happi- 
ness and domestic enjoyment were supposed to re- 
sult. Mugwort is another old name for the plant. 
MONK'S-HOOD {Aconitum Napellus). This 
plant has three names: monk's-hood, wolf's-bane, 
and aconite. Aconite is the "dram of poison" that 
Romeo calls for,^ and Shakespeare alludes to 
aconitum in "King Henry IV," where the king, ad- 
dressing Thomas of Clarence, compares its strength 

* "Romeo and Juliet"; Act V, Scene I. 



"HERBS OF GRACE" 249 

and that of gunpowder. "Though it do work as 
strong as aconitum or rash gunpowder." ^ Aconite 
was supposed in Elizabethan days to be an antidote 
against the most deadly poison. Ben Jonson in 
"Sejanus" makes one of his characters remark: 

I have heard that aconite 

Being timely taken hath a healing might 

Against the scorpion's sting.^ 

Lord Bacon in "Sylva" calls Napellus "the most 
powerful poison of all vegetables." 

Yet despite its poisonous qualities, an English 
garden lover writes, "the plant has always held, and 
deservedly, a place among the ornamental plants 
of our gardens; its stately habit and its handsome 
leaves and flowers make it a favorite." 

The ancients, who were unacquainted with min- 
eral poisons, regarded aconite as the most deadly of 
all poisons and believed that Hecate had caused the 
plant to spring from the venomous foam frothing 
from the mouth of the three-headed dog, Cerberus, 
when Hercules took him from Pluto's dark realm 
on one of his Twelve Labors. Ovid describes the 
aconite as 

' Part II, Act IV, Scene IV. 
*Act III, Scene III. 



250 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

A weed by sorcerers renowned 
The strongest constitution to compound 
Called aconite, because it can unlock 
All bars and force its passage through a rock. 

In Greece it was also known as Wolf's-bane (Lycoc- 
tonum), and it was thought that arrow-heads rubbed 
with it would kill wolves. Turner quaintly writes 
in his "Herbal" (1568): 

"This of all poisons is the most hastie poison, 
howbeit Pliny saith this herb will kill a man if he 
take it, except it find in a man something to kill. 
Let our Londoners which have of late received this 
blue Wolf's-bane, otherwise called Monk's Cane, 
take heed that the poison of the root of this herb do 
not more harm than the freshness of the flower hath 
done pleasure. Let them not say but they are 
warned." 

Parkinson's name for it is Napellus verus flore 
cceruleo (Blue Helmet-Flower, or Monk's-hood). 

"The Helmet Flower," he writes, "hath divers 
leaves of a fresh green color on the upper side and 
grayish underneath, much spread abroad and cut 
into many slits and notches. The stalk riseth up 
two or three foot high, beset to the top with the 
like leaves, but smaller. The top is sometimes di- 
vided into two or three branches, but more usually 



"HERBS OF GRACE" 251 

without, whereon stand many large flowers one 
above another, in form very like a hood, or open 
helmet, being composed of five leaves, the upper- 
most of which and the greatest is hollow, like unto 
a helmet, or headpiece: two other small leaves are 
at the sides of the helmet, closing it like cheeks, and 
come somewhat under, and two other which are 
the smallest hang down like labels, or as if a close 
helmet were opened and some pieces hung by, of a 
perfect, or fair, blue color (but grow darker having 
stood long) which causeth it to be so nourished up 
in Gardens thai: their flowers, as was usual in for- 
mer times (and yet is in many country places) 
may be laid among green herbs in windows and 
rooms for the Summertime; but although their 
beauty may be entertained for the uses aforesaid, 
yet beware they come not near your tongue or lips, 
lest they tell you to your cost, they are not so good 
as they seem to be. In the middest of the flower, 
when it is open and gapeth wide, arc seen certain 
small threads like beards, standing about a middle 
head, which, when the flower is past, groweth into 
three o^ four, or more, small blackish pods, con- 
taining in them black seeds. The roots are brownish 
on the outside and white within, somewhat big and 
round about and small downwards, somewhat like 



252 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

unto a small, short carrot root, sometimes two being 
joined at the head together. It is the true Napellus 
of the ancient writers, which they so termed from 
the form of a turnip called Napus in Latin." 

Generally speaking the leaf and flower of the 
monk's-hood resemble the larkspur; and, like the 
larkspur and the columbine, the plant has wandered 
away from its original family, the buttercup tribe. 
The upper sepal has developed from a spur into a 
hood. 



OTinter 

'WHEN ICICLES HANG BY THE WALL" 



Holly and Ivy 

HOLLY {Ilex aqui folium). Holly, with its 
beautiful red berries and unique leaf, stiff 
and prickly, but highly decorative, is the 
chief emblem of Christmas. We are continuing very 
ancient traditions when we hang up our Christmas 
wreaths and garlands. The earliest records of the 
human race contain references to the custom of 
decorating houses and temples and evergreens on 
occasions of rejoicing. Holly comes to us from 
pagan usage. Five hundred years before the birth 
of Christ the Romans had been celebrating their 
midwinter festival — the Saturnalia — commemorat- 
ing the equality supposed to have existed on earth 
in the golden reign of Saturn. The Saturnalia was 
a period of general merry-making and relaxation. 
People gave each other presents, wished each other 
"lo Saturnalia," just as we wish each other "Merry 

253 



254 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

Christmas," and decorated their houses and temples 
with evergreens, among which holly was conspicu- 
ous. The early Christians, who celebrated the birth 
of Christ during the Saturnalia, adorned their homes 
with holly for the purpose of safety. They would 
have been unpleasantly noticed had they left their 
homes undecorated. After a time holly became as- 
sociated with the Christian festival itself. As the 
Christmas celebration spread throughout Europe 
and into Great Britain, local observances naturally 
became added to the original rites; and gradually 
to certain features taken over from the Saturnalia 
were added customs which the Germanic tribes, 
the Scandinavians, the Gauls, the Celts, and early 
Britons practised for the midwinter festival. 
"Thus," says a modern writer, "all the pagan winter 
festivals were transmuted and sanctified by the 
Christian Church into the beautiful Christmas festi- 
val that keeps the world's heart young and human. 
The Church also brought from ancient observances 
a number of lovable customs, such as the giving of 
presents, the lighting of candles, the burning of the 
Yule-log, the Boar's Head, the Christmas Tree, the 
mistletoe, the holly, laurel and other greens and 
the mince-pies." 

At a season when everything was chosen to com- 



"ICICLES HANG BY THE WALL" 2^^ 

memorate, or invoke, the spirit of growth, or fer- 
tility, the holly, mistletoe and ivy — all of which 
bear fruit in the winter — become particularly 
precious. Beautiful, cheery holly, with its glossy, 
prickly leaves and its coral bells, was a sacred plant 
in the childhood of the world and will continue to 
be a sacred plant as long as the world lasts. We 
may make garlands of laurel or bay-leaves, we may 
bind together ropes of crow's-foot or smilax, and 
we may bring into our rooms pots of poinsettia ; but 
nothing takes, or will ever take, the place the holly 
occupies in our affections. In our literature holly 
is honored. It now symbolizes the spirit of Christ- 
mas as nothing else does. 

One of the earliest Christmas carols, dating from\^ 
the Fifteenth Century, describes a contest of Holly 
and Ivy for the chief place in the hall. Holly is the 
man and Ivy the woman. They have an argument 
(which is a kind of duet), each setting forth his or 
her claim to superiority. Finally, it is decided that 
Holly, with his beautiful red berries, shall reign in 
the hall instead of Ivy, whose berries are black. 
Moreover, many sweet birds are attracted to Holly; 
but only the owl loves Ivy. 

Holly is, of course, the subject of many carols. 
A typical one of the Fifteenth Century is as follows: 



256 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

Here comes Holly, that is so gent, 

Alleluia ! 
To please all men is his intent. 

Alleluia ! 
But lord and lady of the hall, 

Alleluia ! 
Whosoever against Holly call, 

Alleluia ! 
Whosoever against Holly do cry. 

Alleluia ! 
In a lepe shall he hang full high. 

Alleluia ! 
Whosoever against Holly do sing. 

Alleluia! 
He may weep and his handys wring, 

Alleluia ! 

From the above it will be seen that it was a crime 
to say a derogatory word about holly. Holly was 
not only loved for its beauty but it was a holy plant. 
Witches detested it and it was a charm against 
their evil machinations. The name comes from the 
/Anglo-Saxon holegn. The Norse word is hulf^ or 
ihulver; and as Chaucer calls it "Hulfeere" we may 
conclude that holly was familiar to the people of 
Chaucer's time under that name. 

It is somewhat singular that Shakespeare has writ- 
ten a song of wintry wind and holly berries to be 
sung in the Forest of Arden. It affords, however, a 
delightful contrast to the sun-lit summer woodland. 



"ICICLES HANG BY THE WALL'* 257 

While in it holly is not actually described, Amiens' s 
song will always remain the song of songs to holly : 

Blow, blow, thou winter wind, 
Thou art not so unkind 
As man's ingratitude; 
Thy tooth is not so keen, 
Because thou art not seen, 
Although thy breath be rude. 
Heigh ho ! sing heigh ho ! unto the green holly : 
Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly. 
Then heigh ho the holly ! 
This life is most jolly. 

Freeze, freeze, thou bitter sky, 
Thou dost not bite so nigh 

As benefits forgot ; 
Though thou the waters warp 
Thy sting is not so sharp 

As friend remembered not. 
Heigh ho ! sing, heigh ho ! unto the green holly : 
Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly. 

Then, heigh ho ! the holly ! 

This life is most jolly. 

IVY {Hedera Helix). Shakespeare mentions ivy 
twice: in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" where 
Titania^ bidding Bottom sleep, says: 

Sleep thou and I will wind thee in my arms . . . 

the female ivy so 
Enrings the barky fingers of the elm.^ 

* Act IV, Scene I. 



2^8 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

and in "The Tempest," when Frospero compares 

his false brother with the ivy : 

The ivy, which had hid my princely trunk, 
And suck'd my verdure out on 't.^ 

In the old carols and plays Ivy is always repre- 
sented as a woman, and yet, although beloved, was 
used for the outside decorations and doorways. Ivy 
never had the place within that holly occupied. 

As ivy clings and embraces the object near it, the 
plant was chosen as an emblem of confiding love 
and friendship. Tusser's commands are as follows : 
"Get Ivy and Holly, women, deck up thy house." 
Ivy was also used in the church decorations at Chris- 
mas-tide. In the Middle Ages ivy was a favored and 
most auspicious plant. An old carol says: 

Ivy is soft and meke of speech, 

Against all bale she is bliss, 
Well is he that her may reach: — 

Veni, coronaberis. 

Ivy is green with color bright, 

Of all trees best she is, 
And that I prove will now be right: — 

Veni, coronaberis. 

Ivy beareth berries black, 

God grant us all His bliss, 
For there we shall nothing lack: — • 

Veni, coronaberis. 
* Act I, Scene II. 



"ICICLES HANG BY THE WALL" 259 

Ivy was the crown of the Greek and Roman poets, 
whose myths proclaimed the plant sacred to Bacchus. 
Indeed the plant took its name from Bacchus 
{kissos) for it was said that the child was hidden 
under ivy when abandoned by his mother, Semele. 
The ivy was mingled with the grape in the crown of 
Bacchus and it enwreathed his thyrsus. Ivy berries 
eaten before wine was swallowed prevented intoxi- 
cation, so Pliny says. Perhaps because of its asso- 
ciation with Bacchus ivy was hung at the vintners' 
doors in England as well as on the Continent, and a 
reference to this custom is contained in Nash's 
"Summer's Last Will and Testament" (1600). 

In Shakespeare's time ivy was considered a^ 
remedy against plague, which gave another reason 
for veneration. 

England would almost cease to be England with- 
out the ivy that so luxuriantly covers the walls of 
old buildings and adds its soft beauty to the crumb- 
ling ruins. Everybody loves it — strangers as well 
as natives; and every one loves the poem that 
Dickens inserted into "The Pickwick Papers": 

Oh, a dainty plant is the Ivy green, 

That creepeth o'er ruins old ! 
On right choice food are his meals, I ween, 

In his cell so lone and cold. 



26o THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

The wall must be crumbled, the stone decay'd 

To pleasure his dainty whim ; 
And the mouldering dust that years have made, 
Is a merry meal for him. 

Creeping where no life is seen, 
A rare old plant is the Ivy green ! 

First, he stealeth on, though he wears no wings, 

And a staunch old heart has he ; 
How closely he turneth, how close he clings, 

To his friend, the huge oak tree ! 
And slily he traileth along the ground, 

And his leaves he gently waves, 
As he joyously hugs and crawleth round 

The rich mould of men's graves. 

Creeping where grim Death hath been, 
A rare old plant is the Ivy green ! 

Whole ages have fled and their works decayed, 

And nations have scattered been ; 
But the stout old ivy shall never fade 

From its hale and hearty green. 
The brave old plant in its lonely days 

Shall fatten on the past. 
For the stateliest building man can raise 

Is the ivy's food at last. 

Creeping on where Time has been 
A rare old plant is the Ivy green ! 



"ICICLES HANG BY THE WALL" 261 

II 

Mistletoe and Box 

THE MISTLETOE {Viscum album). The mis- 
tletoe, the "all-healer," is a mysterious and mystical 
plant. The Greeks venerated it. Virgil gave it to 
iEneas for the "Golden Bough," to guide him to 
the Underworld. The Scandinavians dedicated it to 
their goddess of love, Freya (or Freyja).' The mis- 
tletoe is, however, more closely associated with the 
Druids than with any other race. The plant was so 
sacred to these strange people that it was never 
allowed to touch the ground. At the New Year 
the Druids marched in solemn procession into the 
forest, and the high priest climbed the oak-tree and, 
with a golden sickle, cut the mistletoe from the 
branches. Other priests stood below holding a white 
cloth to receive the mistletoe as it fell. The sacred 
plant was dipped into water and then distributed 
among the people, to whom it was supposed to bring 
good luck of all kinds. 

Even to-day we do not like the "Mistletoe Bough" 
to fall. We say it is "unlucky" ; but possibly we 
have unconsciously inherited from our remote an- 
cestors a spark of reverence for the "Golden Bough." 



262 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

The Welsh thought the mistletoe "pure gold," 
believing that it had a connection with the golden 
fire of the sun; and they thought also that the mistle- 
toe absorbed the life of the oak-tree to which it 
clung. 

The Church never sanctioned the mistletoe. It 
never appears, therefore, among the Christmas deco- 
rations in the churches. No edicts, however, were 
strong enough to banish it from the decorations of 
the house, and the mistletoe bough is always a fea- 
ture in the home where Christmas is celebrated with 
picturesque traditions. The precise reason for hang- 
ing up the Mistletoe Bough is lost in antiquity; but 
it is possible that the particular reasons were because 
it has supposed miraculous powers of healing sick- 
ness and averting misfortune, and great potency in 
promoting fertility and bestowing prosperity. For 
hundreds of years the mistletoe has been reverenced 
alike in castle, baronial hall, manor house and farm- 
house in Shakespeare's country and in the homes of 
rich and poor in our own country. 

Undoubtedly the idea of kissing under the Mistle- 
toe Bough was derived from the fact that the plant 
was dedicated to the Northern goddess of love. The 
old saying is that the maiden who is not kissed under 
the mistletoe will not be married within the coming 



"ICICLES HANG BY THE WALL" 263 

year. The ceremony of kissing is not properly per- 
formed unless a berry is plucked off and given with 
each kiss to the maiden. When the berries are all 
gone the privilege of kissing ceases. 

That mistletoe grows on the oak-tree solely is a 
popular error. In fact, the plant prefers the apple. 
Most of the English mistletoe now comes from the 
apple orchards of Herefordshire. Normandy sends 
a great deal of mistletoe to England and to our 
country. The strange parasite is also found on the 
linden, poplar, and white-thorn. When once the 
seed is lodged, it drives its roots deep into the branch 
and draws sap and nourishment from the tree. The 
European variety is known as Viscum album and is 
much forked. In the United States the ordinary 
mistletoe is known as Phoradendron and grows on 
various hardwood trees in many of the Southern 
States. 

There is something curiously interesting about 
the mistletoe. It is not beautiful, the leaves are 
irregular and often stained and broken, the berries 
fall almost when looked at and the plant is stiff and 
woody; yet for all that there is a peculiar quality 
in the greenish white and waxy berries and the shape 
of the forked twig that makes us think of divining- 
rods and magical words. It has a mystic fascination 



264 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

for us. Shakespeare's only reference speaks of it as 
baleful: Tarn or a says in "Titus Andronicus" : -^ 

The trees, through summer, yet forlorn and lean, 
O'ercome with moss and baleful mistletoe. 

BOX {Buxus sempervirens). Shakespeare men- 
tions the box once — when ^ir Toby Belch and Sir 
Andrew Aguecheek and the Clown are in livid s 
garden and Maria, running out to tell them that 
Malvolio is coming, excitedly cries : 

Get ye all three into the box-tree.^ 

Every one knows how important a feature the 
box-bush is in English gardens and in the old Ameri- 
can gardens that were planted after English models. 

So fine in color, so deep and luxuriant in foliage, 
so dignified and aristocratic in its atmosphere the 
name box is almost synonymous with old gardens. 
Its acrid yet aromatic scent — most delicious after 
rain — is one of its characteristics. 

Greek myth consecrated the box to Pluto, and 
the plant was said to be symbolical of the life in 
the Underworld which continues all the year. The 
ancients used it to border their flower-beds, and 
probably the great use of box in England comes from 

' Act II, Scene III. 

^ "Twelfth Night" ; Act II, Scene V. 



"ICICLES HANG BY THE WALL" 265: 

the Roman times. The wood was used for delicate 
inlay in the days of the Renaissance and also for 
making musical instruments. 

Box is thought to be the assur-wood of the Bible. 
There is authority for using greenery in church deco- 
ration for in Isaiah we read: "The glory of 
Lebanon shall come unto thee; the fir-tree, the pine- 
tree, and the box together to beautify the place of 
my sanctuary; and I will make the places of my 
feet glorious." ^ 

To dream of box, according to the astrologers of 
Shakespeare's time, signified a happy marriage, long 
life, and prosperity. 

Box was used for decoration in the Tudor and 
Stuart days and succeeded the Christmas garlands, 
as Herrick sings in the time of Charles I, at Candle- 
mas (February 2) : 

Down with the Rosemary and Bays, 

Down with the Mistletoe, 
Instead of Holly now upraise 

The greener Box for show. 

The Holly hitherto did sway, 

Let Box now domineer 
Until the dancing Easter Day ' 

On Easter eve appear. 

*Chap. LX, V. 13. 



266 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

The youthful Box which now hath grace 

Your houses to renew, 
Grown old, surrender must his place 

Unto the crisped Yew. 

When Yew is out, then Birch comes in, 

And many flowers beside. 
Both of a fresh and fragrant kin 

To honor Whitsuntide. 

Green rushes then and sweetest Bents, 

With cooler oaken boughs 
Come in for comely ornaments 

To re-adorn the house. 

Thus a constant succession of decorative flowers 
and evergreens appeared in the houses of Old Eng- 
land. Every season had its appropriate flowers, each 
and all emblematical. It was also the same in the 
Church. An English writer remarks : 

"Mindful of the Festivals which our Church pre- 
scribes, I have sought to make these objects of floral 
nature the timepieces of my religious calendar and 
the mementos of the hastening period of my mor- 
tality. Thus, I can light my taper to our Virgin 
Mother in the blossoming of the white Snowdrop, 
which opens its flower at the time of Candlemas; 
the Lady's Smock and Daffodil remind me of the 
Annunciation; the blue Harebell of the Festival of 
St. George; the Ranunculus of the Invention of the 



"ICICLES HANG BY THE WALL" 267 

Cross; the Scarlet Lychnis of St. John the Baptist's 
day; the White Lily of the Visitation of Our Lady; 
the Virgin's Bower of the Assumption; and Michael- 
mas, Martinmas, Holy Rood and Christmas have all 
their appropriate decorations." 



PART THREE 
PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS 



THE LAY-OUT OF STATELY AND SMALL 
FORMAL GARDENS 



The Stately Garden 

BEFORE taking any steps to make a Shake- 
speare garden, it is essential to study the archi- 
tectural lines of the house and the conforma- 
tion of the grounds on which it is purposed to lay out 
the garden, or series of gardens. If the grounds are 
undulating, or hilly, naturally the gardens must be 
arrayed on different levels. The gardens can rise 
above the house in terraces if the house stands on 
the side of a hill, or beneath it; or the gardens may 
sink below the house, if the building crowns the 
summit of an elevation. On the other hand, if the 
house is erected on a flat plain, the gardens can 
open out like a series of rooms partitioned off by 
hedges, arbors, or walls. An artistic eye and re- 
sourceful mind will prefer to take advantage of the 
natural lines and work out a plan suggested by them. 

With nearly every kind of house the square garden 

271 



272 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

accords, either perfectly square or longer than broad. 
Frequently the small enclosed garden looks well at 
the side of the house. It is essential to call in the 
professional gardener for advice regarding the situa- 
tion of the garden, and questions of drainage, sun- 
shine, and exposure to winds and sunshine; for all 
these matters aid in determining the arrangement. If 
a series of gardens is planned, one leading from an- 
other, it is well to consider them as outside rooms. 
In this case there will be little trouble in making 
the lay-out. The simplest plan is always the most 
effective. A very good example to follow is the lay- 
out of Montacute, Somersetshire, built in 1580- 
1601 : 

"Before the house is a walled-in forecourt, and 
in the forecourt a small lawn with a fountain, or 
pool, in the center. An entrance-gate leads into the 
forecourt. Before this forecourt comes a small ante- 
court, designed for the sake of dignity. On one side 
of the forecourt is the base, or bass, court, sur- 
rounded by the stables, kitchens, and other build- 
ings; and on the other side is the ornamental 
pleasure-grounds, including 'my lady's garden,' a 
survival of the small enclosed castle garden, of the 
Middle Ages. 

"Overlooking the garden is the Terrace — twenty 



LAY-OUT OF STATELY GARDENS 273 

or thirty feet wide — of considerable length, and pro- 
tected by a balustrade of detached banisters, of 
handsome design pierced in stone. From the Terrace 
wide flights of steps at either end lead to the broad 
sanded walks that divide the parterre into several 
subdivisions, which are again divided by narrow 
paths into smaller designs. 

"The general shape is square, following the 
antique classical garden of Pliny's time, enclosed 
with trellis-work, espaliers, clipped box-hedges, 
statuary, fountains, vases, and pleached alleys." 

The famous Nonsuch, near Ewell, in Surrey, laid 
out by Henry VIII toward the end of his life, re- 
tained its appearance for more than a hundred years ; 
for at the time of the Parliamentary Survey (1650) 
it was thus described: 

"It was cut out and divided into several allies, 
quarters and rounds, set about with thorn hedges; 
on the north side is a kitchen garden, very commodi- 
ous and surrounded with a brick wall of fourteen 
feet high. On the west is a wilderness severed from 
the little park by a lodge, the whole containing ten 
acres. In the privy garden were pyramids, fountains 
and basins of marble, one of which is set round with 
six lilack trees, which trees bear no fruit, but a very 
pleasant flower. Before the Palace is a neat and 



274 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

handsome bowling-green surrounded with a balus- 
trade of freestone." 

Hampton Court Gardens, so beautiful to-day, 
were very famous in Tudor times. The old manor 
house was at the southwest corner of the area, and 
around it Cardinal Wolsey laid out his gardens and 
orchards. In 1599 Henry VIII seized the estate 
and enlarged the gardens. Ernest Law exclaims : 

"What a truly delightful picture must these gar- 
dens have formed with their little walks and par- 
terres, sheltered arbors and banquetting-houses. The 
largest plot was called the King's New Garden and 
occupied the place called the Privy Garden. Here 
were the gay parterres with gravel paths and little 
raised mounds with sun-dials on them. Here was 
also the Pond Garden, which is still to be seen and 
which, though much altered, yet retains something 
of its Tudor aspect; and another, known as the 
Little Garden, which may, perhaps, be identified 
with the enclosed space at the side of the Pond Gar- 
den. Studded about in various parts of the gardens 
and orchards were heraldic beasts on pedestals, hold- 
ing vanes, or shields, bearing the King's Arms and 
badges; also many brass sun-dials." 

Another typical garden was that of Kenilworth, 



LAY-OUT OF STATELY GARDENS 275 

known, of course, to Shakespeare, as it is in War- 
wickshire : 

"His Honor's the Earl of Leicester's exquisite 
appointment of a beautiful garden, an acre or more 
in quantity, that lieth on the north. Whereon all 
along the Castle wall is reared a pleasant terrace, 
ten feet high and twelve feet broad, even under foot 
and fresh of fine grass, as is also the side, thereof, 
towards the garden, in which, by sundry equal dis- 
tances with obelisks and spheres and white bears 
all of stone upon their curious bases by goodly shew, 
were set. To these, two fine arbors, redolent by 
sweet trees and flowers, at each end, one ; the garden- 
plot under that, with fair alleys, green by grass, even 
voided from the borders on both sides, and some 
(for change) with sand, smooth and firm, pleasant 
to walk on, as a sea-shore when the water is avoided. 
Then much gracified by due proportion of four even 
quarters, in the midst of each upon a base of t^yo 
feet square and high, seemingly bordered of itself, a 
square pilaster rising pyramidically fifteen feet 
high." 

Thus Robert Laneham wrote in a letter describ- 
ing the pageant at Kenilworth in 1575- 

The garden of varying ascents and descents was 



276 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

much admired in Elizabethan days. Sir Henry 
Wotton (1568-1630), a most sensitive critic, who 
wrote so beautifully of flowers, describes in his "Ele- 
ments of Architecture" a garden laid out on different 
levels : 

"I have seen a garden for the manner perchance 
incomparable into which the first access was a high 
walk like a terrace, from whence might be taken a 
general view of the whole Plot below. From this, 
the Beholder, descending many steps, was after- 
wards conveyed again by several mountings and 
fallings to various entertainments of his scent and 
sight. Every one of these diversities was as if he 
had been magically transported into a new garden," 

The above extracts will afford suggestions for the 
lay-out of fine stately gardens. The most typical 
Elizabethan estates are Montacute, Somersetshire; 
Longleat, Wiltshire; Hatfield, Hardwicke, Kirby, 
Penshurst, Kent; and Drayton House, Northamp- 
tonshire. All of these are models for imitation in 
our own country. 

II 

The Small Garden 

Turning now to the small enclosed garden, first 
select your ground, your design, and your flowers 



LAY-OUT OF STATELY GARDENS 277 

for borders, edging, and knots, so that you will know 
the effect you wish to produce. 

"Making a garden," says H. H. Thomas, "may 
be likened to painting a picture. Just as the artist 
has before him the landscape which he is to depict 
on the canvas, the gardener should have in his mind's 
eye a strong impression of the kind of garden he 
wishes to make. There is nothing like being 
methodical even in gardening, so it is best to ma- 
terialize one's ideas in the form of a rough sketch, 
or plan." 

Show your gardener the diagram and have him 
stake off your garden and beds with the greatest 
accuracy. Your walks, paths, and beds must be 
exact. Next select your style of enclosure and 
build your brick wall, plant your green hedge, or 
construct your pleached alley. Each one has its 
own particular advantages and charm. The brick 
wall forms a shelter for plants that love shade and 
a fine support for climbing plants, especially ivy. 
The hedge makes a rich and distinguished wall of 
living green, which can be artistically clipped; and 
arches can be made through it. The pleached alley, 
formed of wooden trellis, lattice-work, or rustic, or 
wire arches painted an attractive color, or left in 
the natural wood, will, if they are covered profusely 



278 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

with roses, honeysuckle, rosemary, and other roving 
flowers, give the effect of the old leafy tunnels of 
greenery and blossoms. 

Ill 

Soil and Seed 

Every gardener of olden times, as well as every 
practical worker to-day, insists upon the necessity 
of digging and trenching and preparing the soil be- 
fore any seeds are sown, or cuttings planted. For 
this important preparation, the advice of the best 
local gardener is imperative. 

Regarding seeds it is interesting to seek advice 
from Didymus Mountain's "The Gardener's 
Labyrinth." "Every gardener and owner," he says, 
"ought to be careful and diligently to foresee that 
the seeds committed to the earth be neither too old, 
dry, thin, withered, nor counterfeited, but rather 
full, new and full of juice. 

"After the seeds being workmanly bestowed in 
the beds, the gardener's next care must be that he 
diligently pull up and weed away all hurtful and 
unprofitable herbs annoying the garden plants 
coming up." 

All very sound advice, quaintly expressed. Old 



LAY-OUT OF STATELY GARDENS 279 

Didymus is even quainter as he tells of the astro- 
logical influences: 

"The daily experience is to the gardener as a 
schoolmaster to instruct him how much it availeth 
and hindereth that seeds to be sown, plants to be 
set, yea, scions to be grafted (in this or that time), 
having herein regard, not to the time especially of 
the year, as the Sun altereth the same, but also to 
the Moon's increase and wane, yea, to the sign she 
occupieth, and places both about and under the 
earth. To the aspects also of the other planets, 
whose beams and influence both quicken, comfort, 
preserve and maintain, or else nip, wither, dry, con- 
sume, and destroy by sundry means the tender seeds, 
plants, yea, and grafts; and these after their prop- 
erty and virtue natural or accidental." 

Then he goes on to say: 

"To utter here the popular help against thunder, 
lightnings and the dangerous hail, when the tempest 
approacheth through the cloud arising, as by the 
loud noise of guns shot here and there, with a loud 
sound of bells and such like noises which may hap- 
pen, I think the same not necessary, nor properly 
available to the benefit of the garden. 

"The famous learned man, Archibus, which wrote 
unto Antiochus, King of Syria, affirmeth that 



28o THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

tempests shall not be harmful to plants, or fruit, if 
the speckled toad, enclosed in a new earthern pot, 
be buried in the middle of the garden." 

A modern authority says : 

"While no hard and fast rule can be made, a gen- 
eral practice is to cover seeds with double their own 
depth of soil under glass and four times their own 
depth of soil when sowing in the open ground. To 
protect seeds from cats, bury several bottles up to 
the neck in seed bed and put in each bottle a tea- 
spoonful of liquid ammonia." 

IV 

The Gateway 

The gate entrance was always important in Tudor 
times. The gate, usually of pierced ironwork, but 
also of wood artistically cut into balusters, was hung 
between two square piers of brick or stone, about 
ten feet apart. Each pier was surmounted by a stone 
ball, with or without necking, unless heraldic lions, 
bears, wyverns, or other emblems of the owner were 
used. The piers were, as a rule, two feet square 
and nine, or ten, feet to the top of the cornice. Gate- 
ways were also set in walls, and little gates were set 
in hedges, or flanked by ornamental shrubs. 



LAY-OUT OF STATELY GARDENS 281 

V 

The Garden-House 

The garden-house was very important in Shake- 
speare's time. It was often a substantial edifice, 
built of brick or stone, placed at the corner of a 
boundary, or dividing wall, so as to afford a view 
of more than one part of the garden. Sometimes 
two buildings were constructed, one at each corner, 
as at Montacute. Another favorite position was 
at the end of a long walk ending in a vista; and 
another was overlooking the bowling-alley, from 
which visitors could watch the game. The garden- 
house was often fitted with handsome woodwork 
and even a fireplace. An outside staircase some- 
times led to the roof. 

The summer-house arbor was also often made of 
wooden lattice-work and covered with vines. Some- 
times it was hollowed out of the clipped hedge, or 
out of a large tree properly shaped by the toparian 
artist. The gazebo, built at the corner of a wall 
overlooking the garden within and the road with- 
out, was also a popular kind of summer-house. The 
origin of the name is still obscure. Some people say 
it comes from the same root as to gaze, and refers 



282 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

to viewing the scenery; but there is a suggestion of 
the Orient in the word. The gazebo may best be 
described as a kind of wall pavilion. 

VI 

The Mount 

The mount, originally intended to enable persons 
to look over the enclosing wall, served both as a 
place to enjoy the view and as a post of outlook in 
time of danger. Mounts were constructed of wood 
or stone, curiously adorned within and without. 
They were also made in the old barrow shape of 
earth and covered with grass. The top of the 
mount was often adorned with a summer-house, or 
arbor. The mount at Hampton Court, constructed 
in 1533 on a brick foundation, was the first speci- 
men of its day; and the arbor upon it was a very 
elaborate affair, made of wooden pales and trellis- 
work. Sometimes the mount, instead of being a 
raised and detached mound, was formed like a long 
bank raised against an outer wall. 

VII 

Rustic Arches 

"Rustic arches should be in keeping with the 
house and grounds. Firstly they should be in keep- 



LAY-OUT OF STATELY GARDENS 283 

ing with the style of the house and grounds. A 
white stone house with a light pillared verandah is 
not suited by rustic arches: it requires to be seen 
through vistas made up of arches as slender as the 
verandah pillars, of painted iron-work preferably, 
and the most telling contrast will be arranged if 
there are numerous deep evergreen shrubs. 

"Rustic, or peeled oak, arches suit the modern 
red brick villa style of house to perfection; the 
trellis arch, being neat and unpretentious, is also in 
excellent taste. The old-fashioned country cottage, 
or the house built to imitate it, should not have 
trellis-work within half a mile. Rustic .arches, or in- 
visible ones of bent iron, are alone in keeping. By 
an invisible arch, I mean one consisting of a single 
bend of iron, or narrow woodwork upright with a 
cross bar — anything really that is intended only to 
support some evergreen climber or close grower, such 
as a rose that will hide the foundation at all seasons. 

"Arches simply built of rustic poles are more 
pleasing than wire or lattice ones in any landscape ; 
and the roughness of the wood is beneficial to the 
climbers that grow over them, affording an easy 
hold for tendrils. Whether the wood is peeled, or 
employed with the bark on — the latter is the more 
artistic method — it is an admirable plan to wa'^b it 



284 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

all over with a strong solution of some insecticide 
and then give one or two coats of varnish. In most 
cases varnish alone is enough to preserve the wood. 
"The use of rustic wood in a garden is always 
safe since its appearance cannot conflict with Nature 
as painted woodwork when present in excess is sure 
to do. From woodcutter's yards, especially those 
in the heart of the country, charming pieces of log 
of any size can be bought very cheaply and when- 
ever a tree on an estate has to be felled portions of 
its trunks or branches can be turned to good account 
in the garden." ^ 

VIII 

Seats 

Garden seats are of so many kinds and styles that 
one has much latitude in selection. Rustic seats, 
painted iron seats, and marble seats are all proper; 
but should be selected to harmonize with the house 
and general style of the garden or gardens. 

IX 

Vases^ Jars^ and Tubs 

Marble vases, old pottery jars of simple type, 
and wooden tubs can be selected for individual 

* H. H. Thomas. 



LAY-OUT OF STATELY GARDENS 28? 

plants to grow in, or for fine arrangements of ferns 
and other flowers. Placed at regular intervals in 
the garden, or on the terrace, these simple ornaments 
add brightness and elegance to the scene. 

X 

Fountains 

In Elizabethan gardens the fountain was a fa- 
miliar feature, and fountains were very elaborate 
with regard to their construction. 

Bacon says: 

"For fountains they are a great beauty and re- 
freshment: the one that sprinkleth or spouteth 
water; the other, a fair receipt of water of some 
thirty or forty foot. For the first, the ornaments of 
images gilt, or marble, which are in use, do well. 
Also some steps up to it and some fine pavement 
about doth well. As for the other kind of fountain, 
which may be called a bathing-pool, it may admit 
much curiosity and beauty, as that the bottom be 
finely paved, and with images ; the sides likewise and 
withal embellished with colored glass and such 
things of luster encompassed also with fine rails of 
low statues." 

Hentzner saw three famous fountains on his visit 



286 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

to England in 1592, at Hampton Court, Whitehall, 
and Nonsuch. He describes the one at Hampton 
Court as follows: 

"In the middle of the first and principal court 
stands a fountain, splendid, high, and massy, with 
an ingenious water-work, by which you can, if you 
like, make the water to play upon the ladies and 
others who are standing by and give them a thor- 
ough wetting." 

The one at Whitehall was also capable of playing 
practical jokes: 

"A jet d'eau with a sun-dial, which, while stran- 
gers are looking at it, a quantity of water forced by a 
wheel, which the gardener turns at a distance 
through a number of little pipes, plentifully 
sprinkles those who are standing round." 

More ornate was the fountain at the superb palace 
of Nonsuch in Surrey: 

"In the pleasure and artificial gardens are many 
columns and pyramids of marble, two fountains that 
spout water, one round the other like a pyramid 
upon which are perched small birds that stream 
water out of their bills. In the Grove of Diana is a 
very agreeable fountain with Actseon turned into 
a stag, as he was sprinkled by the goddess and her 
nymphs with inscriptions. There is besides another 



LAY-OUT OF STATELY GARDENS 287 

pyramid of marble full of concealed pipes which 
spirt upon all who come within their reach." 

In the small formal garden a fountain looks well 
at the intersection of the paths in the center of the 
quarters. It is not necessary to have an ornate foun- 
tain, for the real charm of a fountain consists in the 
upward plume of spray that glistens in the sunshine, 
that turns to pearls in the moonlight, and that al- 
ways charms the eye of man and delights the neigh- 
boring flowers with its spray blown by the breeze. 

XI 

The Dove-cote 

Every manor-house had its dove-cote, or colum- 
bary, as it was called. Here doves and pigeons aided 
in making a very pretty picture as they flew in and 
out of the architecturally designed bird-house. The 
right to keep them was confined to the lords of the 
manor, and the law was very strictly enforced. 

Andrew Borde tells us that a dove-house is a 
necessary thing about a mansion-place. It is, there- 
fore, quite proper to include a bird-house in the 
Shakespeare garden; and a pool for the birds' com- 
fort is also a pretty as well as necessary adjunct to 
the dove-cote. 



288 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

Birds add much to the pleasure of the garden. 
Pigeons and doves give a poetic touch as they strut 
along the paths and flutter about. Nothing gives 
more quality and elegance, however, than a peacock, 
and, to quote from a contemporary writer: 

"The peacock is a bird of more beautiful feathers 
than any other that is. He is quickly angry, but he 
is goodly to behold, very good to eat, and serveth as 
a watch in the inner court, for that he, spying 
strangers to come into the lodging, he faileth not to 
cry out and advertise them of the house." 

The peacock is as much of a joy to the garden 
lover as the sun-dial. 

XII 

The Sun-dial 

The sun-dial forms a perfect ornament at the 
intersection of the garden paths. Every one re- 
sponds to the quaint beauty and mystery of the sun- 
dial with its dark shadow that creeps quietly across 
the dial and tells the hours so softly. As Charles 
Lamb says: "It is the measure appropriate for sweet 
plants and flowers to spring by and birds to appor- 
tion their silver warblings by." Nothing has a more 
antique air than the sun-dial. The simple baluster 








i i ^ 


■ 'l i 


1 ll \ 



4^ w 




IS- i 



P I 



FOUNTAINS, SIXTEENTH CENTURY 



LAY-OUT OF STATELY GARDENS 289 

pillar is a good model, and the base should be sur- 
rounded by a circle of grass. 

This grassy ring is the "wabe," where Lewis Car- 
roll's "slithy toves" did "gyre and gimbel" in the 
immortal poem "Jabberwocky." 

The sun-dial can also be placed at the end of a 
path, if the path is important enough to warrant it. 

In our Shakespeare garden I suggest using a 
Shakespearian quotation for the inscription, such as, 
for example : 

For never-resting Time leads summer on. 

or 
Nothing 'gainst Time's scythe can make defense. 

or 
Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore, 
So do our minutes hasten to their end. 

or 
Come what, come may, 
Time and the hour runs through the roughest day. 

XIII 

The Terrace 

The terrace is essential, if one would have the 
true Elizabethan atmosphere. The terrace can be 
of stone, or brick, or brick combined with stone, or 
brick combined with wood. Whatever the material, 



290 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

the balustrade is of the greatest importance. The 
designs for balusters in the old architectural books 
are legion, some of them of very complicated inter- 
twining after the patterns of arabesques and cuirs 
(strap-leather work), but good taste, even in that 
day of complicated design, demanded that the balus- 
ters should be very widely spaced. This is obvious, 
because half of the effect, at least, of out-of-door 
architecture depends upon the open spaces for light 
to play its part — and a great part, too — in the 
design. In balustrades the spacing is, therefore, 
very important. The balusters should never be too 
crowded. The most satisfactory ones are those in 
which the distance from center to center almost 
equals the height from plinth to coping. The piers 
dividing the groups should not be too far apart — ten 
to fifteen feet is a good distance. Much, however, 
depends on the proportion of the balusters them- 
selves. Frequently the balustrade is adorned with 
ornamental vases, or urns, set at regular intervals 
on the rail and on the newel-posts of the steps. As 
a rule, the steps lead from both ends of the terrace. 
Sometimes there are also steps in the center; some- 
times the terrace is double. A jar, vase, or tub of 
growing plants, or containing one handsome plant, 
looks well placed on the lawn on either side of the 



LAY-OUT OF STATELY GARDENS 291 

steps. Vines can be trained gracefully along the 
balustrade, hand-rails, and posts of the steps. A 
rich border of flowers should be grown all along the 
side of the terrace: in the spring hosts of daffodils 
and in the summer larkspur, marigolds, lilies, iris, 
and climbing roses and honeysuckle. The terrace 
gains in style and beauty when the proper floral 
decorations are tastefully selected and well com- 
bined. 

From the terrace one can enjoy a fine view of the 
garden as a whole; and it is a pleasant place to 
stroll upon and to sit. Sometimes the terrace is 
of two levels with several stairways. 

Leaving the architectural terrace, which is an 
adjunct of the house bringing the house into relation 
with the garden, we must turn to the garden terrace 
made of grass, and ascended by grass steps cut in 
the bank, or by stone or brick steps cut in the bank, 
or standing outside with handrails and newel-posts. 
If the steps are of grass, good effects can be made 
by placing large jars, or tubs, filled with flowers, 
ferns, or a single plant, such as the pomegranate, 
for instance, on either side. 

The grass-terrace is very charming leading up to 
the garden, leading from one garden to another, or 
leading from the lawn proper to the sunken garden. 



292 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

A very attractive arrangement was at Penshurst, 
Kent, the home of the Sidney family. It is described 
thus: "Garden on south and west, ground sloping 
to south and west, house on a grass platform, about 
nine feet above the garden level. Along the south- 
west side of the flower-garden a broad grass-terrace, 
and near the house a few steps lead to the yew alley, 
at the end of which is a quaint old sun-dial known 
as the Turk's Head." 

The yew alley was evidently a pleached alley. 

XIV 

The Pleached Alley 

The "Pleached Alley," another typical feature of 
the Elizabethan garden (from the French plessir^ 
to weave), is nothing more nor less than a thickly 
covered walk. In Shakespeare's time this was con- 
structed of woven boughs and climbing vines and 
flowers, or a series of arbors. The old prints and 
pictures show them to be complete tunnels of 
greenery. We can make a pleached alley to-day by 
setting up a pergola and smothering it with flowers 
and vines. Ironwork arches covered with roses, 
honeysuckle, and other creepers will produce the 
proper effect. A latticework trellis covered with 



LAY-OUT OF STATELY GARDENS 293 

vines and flowers will, if properly constructed, pro- 
duce the appearance of a pleached alley. 

When the pleached alley is not used to enclose 
the garden, then a brick wall or, still better, a fine 
hedge should be planted. 

XV 

Hedges 

Box makes a perfect hedge. The hedge must be 
clipped at the upper part narrower than at the base, 
otherwise the base will become bare. Privet makes 
an excellent hedge and so does the Osage orange, 
which grows luxuriantly in some parts of the United 
States. It is decorative to trim the hedge so that tall 
pyramids ornament either side of the gate, or an 
arch can be made to grow over the gate. A small 
lavender hedge is very attractive. Each autumn, 
after the flower-spikes have gone, trim plants for the 
dwarf hedge. 

Roses, particularly the sweetbrier, make a charm- 
ing hedge. Honeysuckle is another delightful flower 
for a hedge; and nothing could be more beautiful 
than the two combined. 

If the rose and honeysuckle hedge is desired, have 
the carpenter make a lattice screen of the desired 



294 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

height, or simply construct a rustic fence and plant 
the creepers near it and train them so that they will 
make a wall of flowers and leaves. 

XVI 

Paths 

"There is no pleasanter path than that of grass, 
and even the small garden ought to have a little 
grass-walk between the flower borders and rose beds. 
It adds immensely to the attractiveness of the gar- 
den and none other is so pleasant to the tread. Con- 
stant mowing and rolling are necessary and the 
edges must be kept neat and trim; for while a well- 
kept grass-path is most attractive of all, its charm 
is never fully realized unless it is carefully at- 
tended to." ^ 

Gravel-paths must be frequently rolled and the 
surface of the walk made a little higher in the center 
than the sides with a curving outline, so that water 
may drain away to the sides. 

The brick pathway is capable of much variety. 
Bricks may be laid in many patterns; and the little 
garden, if very small, may be entirely paved with 
bricks, leaving the formal flower-beds only of earth. 
A fountain or sun-dial looks well in the center. 

* H. H. Thomas. 



LAY-OUT OF STATELY GARDENS 29^ 

Flagged pathways are effective in certain garden 
arrangements. Old paving-stones are suitable, but 
they should first be broken up into irregular pieces. 

"Build a good foundation, cover it with a thin 
layer of sandy loam, then lay the larger pieces flat 
on this. Fill the interstices with the fragments, but 
leave crevices filled with soil, two inches or so wide, 
here and there. Make up a compost of equal parts 
of loam, sand and leaf-mould, sweep this over the 
path and let it settle in the joints. Many plants 
can be established in the joints and a pretty effect 
obtained." ^ 

Among the plants practical for this purpose are 
thrift, thyme, and camomile, and the more they are 
trodden on the sweeter they smell and the better 
they grow. 

"The Gardener's Labyrinth" gives three or four 
feet as the width for paths between beds and one 
foot to one foot six inches for the cross-path. 

XVII 

Borders 

Borders should not be confused with edgings. 
"Border is the name applied to the narrow di- 

* H. H. Thomas. 



296 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

vision of the garden which usually accompanies each 
side of a walk. In fact, any bed which acts as a 
boundary to a walk or grass-plot, or the main quar- 
ters of a garden may be properly described as a 
border. 

"Flower-borders should be well drained. In plot- 
ting them it must be remembered that if narrow no 
art will impart to them an air of boldness. If the 
pleasure grounds are small, narrow borders are per- 
missible. All flower-borders should be made in pro- 
portion to the size of the garden and other sur- 
roundings. Neatness must be the presiding deity 
over flower-borders; and no application of the hoe 
and rake, no removal of decayed leaves, no tying up 
of straggling members can be too unremitting." ^ 

According to Lawson, the borders "should be 
roses, thyme, lavender, rosemary, hyssop, sage and 
such like and filled with cowslips, primroses, violets, 
Daffy-down-dillies, sweet Sissely, Go-to-bed-at- 
noon, and all sweet flowers; and, chief of all, with 
gilliflowers, July-flowers, commonly called gilli- 
flowers or clove July-flowers (I call them so be- 
cause they flower in July) ; they have the names of 
cloves of their scent. I may well call them the King 

* Johnson's "Gardener's Dictionary and Cultural Instructor," 
edited by Fraser and Hemsley (London, 1917). 



LAY-OUT OF STATELY GARDENS 297 

of Flowers (except the rose). Of all flowers save 
the Damask Rose they are the most pleasant to sight 

and smell." 

XVIII 
Edgings 

Edging is the material used for dividing beds 
and borders from the paths, or grass leading up to 
the bed, if the bed is alongside a wall, or terrace, or 
veranda. 

Box is a formal, but charming, edging. "The 
growth must be regularly clipped each year. Stretch 
a line the whole length of the edging, so as to show 
the correct height; then cut evenly and neatly both 
at top and sides. When relaying, take up the plants, 
pull them to pieces and use the strong young 
growths, which must be clipped to one level. Box 
is easily grown and stands pruning with impunity." 
Such is the advice of an authority. Another prac- 
tical gardener says: "Most amateurs clip box- 
edgings early in the Spring. This causes an early 
growth, which is just in the condition to be nipped 
by a sharp, late frost. The safeguard is to delay 
clipping until the end of August. Then comes free, 
healthy growth, which renders box-lined garden 
paths cheerful and pleasant to the eye through times 
of heat and drought." 



298 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

Thrift {Armeria) is one of the best edgings as it 
is green all the year round and in summer is covered 
with bright pink flowers. A flower-lover says: 

"Thrift is seen as an edging in many old English 
gardens. To preserve its beauty the plants must be 
lifted, divided and replanted once in at least four 
years: a rich even growth is then the reward. The 
tufted habit, fresh green growth and rose-purple 
flowers in Summer are enjoyable to look at." 

Thrift requires frequent trimming. 

London-pride {Saxifraga umbrosd) is very pretty 
when in flower and, therefore, makes an attractive 
edging. 

Pansies also form a decorative edging for flower 
beds, large and small. 

Another charming edging is the carnation, espe- 
cially the white varieties. The gray-green foliage 
makes a beautiful border for flower-beds. Pinks are 
pretty, too, for bed edgings, and the sweet-william 
is also attractive for this purpose. 

XIX 

Knots 

The knot should occupy a piece of ground from 
twenty-five to one hundred feet square. According 



LAY-OUT OF STATELY GARDENS 299 

to "The Gardener's Labyrinth" "the flower-bed 
should be kept to the size that the weeder's hands 
may well reach into the middest of the bed." The 
size given in this manual is twelve feet by six, "each 
bed raised one foot above the ground (two feet in 
marshy ground) and the edge cased in with short 
planks framed into square posts with finials at the 
angles with intermediate supports." A prettier 
method, however, is to border the flower-bed with 
an edging of box, thrift, pansies, or pinks. This 
border outlines the shape of the knot. Within the 
edging, or border, "the flowers are all planted in 
some proportion as near one into another as it is fit 
for them, which will give such grace to the garden 
that the place will seem like a tapestry of flowers." 

It would seem from the hundreds of designs for 
knots in the old garden-books that every possible 
combination of scroll and line and curve had been 
exhausted; but ingenious persons liked to invent 
their own. Markham tells us that "the pattern of 
the design cannot be decided by rule ; the one where- 
of is led by the hops and skips, turnings and wind- 
ings of his brain; the other, by the pleasing of his 
eye, according to his best fantasie." 

Lawson gives the following nine designs for 
knots: 



300 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

Cinkfoyle Lozenges 

Flower-de-luce ^ Cross-bow 

Trefoyle Diamond 

Frette Oval 
Maze. 

Here the maze is not intended as a labyrinth to 
walk in, but is a design for the planting of flowers. 
Markham's knots are: 

Straight line knots Mixed knots 

Diamond knots, single Single impleate of straight 

and double line 

Single knots Plain and mixed 

Direct and Circular. 

Knots, formed with "a border of box, lavender, 
or rosemary, are eighteen inches broad at bottom 
and clipped so close a level at the top as to form a 
table for the housewife to spread clothes to dry on," 
are Lawson's idea. 

The old garden books contain many designs for 
knots, some of which are astonishingly intricate. 
Examples occur in Markham's and Lawson's books 
and in Didymus Mountain's "Gardener's Labyrinth" 
(editions of 1557, 1594, and 1608), which are per- 
fectly practical for use to-day. 

* Fleur-de-lis. 



LAY-OUT OF STATELY GARDENS 301 

In David Loggan's "Oxonia Illustrata" (Oxford, 
1675, folio) several large plates show formal gar- 
dens. Among them New College Gardens and those 
of Jesus are extremely interesting. Loggan's com- 
panion book on Cambridge, "Cantabrigia Illustrata" 
(Cambridge, 1688), has splendid views of architec- 
ture and formal gardens with knots. 

Typical flower-beds are also represented in 
Vredeman de Vries's "Hortorum Viridariorumque" 
(Antwerp, 1583) and Crispin de Passe's "Hortus 
Floridus" (Arnhem, 1614). 

Theobald's as late as 1650 preserved the Tudor 
arrangement. 

"In the great garden are nine large complete 
squares, or knots, lying upon a level in the middle of 
the said garden, whereof one is set forth with box- 
borders in the likeness of the King's Arms, one other 
plot is planted with choice flowers; the other seven 
knots are all grass-knots, handsomely turfed in the 
intervals, or little walks. A quickset hedge of white 
thorn, or privet, cut into a handsome fashion at 
every angle, a fair cherry tree and a cypress in the 
middle of the knots — also a marble fountain." 



302 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

XX 

The Rock-Garden 

It is well to build a little unostentatious rock- 
garden in some appropriate spot where a few flowers, 
which you may not want in the beds, can grow. 
Flowers that find a congenial home in a loosely ar- 
ranged pile of rocks and turf are anemones, colum- 
bines, thrift, thyme, rosemary, violets, buttercups, 
harebells, ferns, fennel, ivy, myrtle, pansies, and 
the ragged-robin (gentian). 

Select weather-worn stones and pile them care- 
lessly one above another, placing some of them as 
shelves. Leave plenty of room for the earth and 
let your flowers grow as they please. 

XXI 

Flowers 

As I do not pretend to be a practical gardener, 
having had no experience, I have culled these hints 
from several authorities, including E. T. Cook's 
"The Century Book of Gardening" (London, 
19,01); Johnson's "Gardener's Dictionary and Cul- 
tural Instructor," edited by Eraser and Hemsley 



LAY-OUT OF STATELY GARDENS 303 

(London, 1917); H. H. Thomas's "The Complete 
Gardener" (London, 1912) ; and Mabel Cabot Sedg- 
wick's "The Garden Month by Month" (New York, 
1907). 

ANEMONE STELLATA requires a sheltered, 
warm position and light, sandy soil, well drained. It 
grows about ten inches high with star-like flowers, 
purple, rose-color, and white. Generally speaking, 
it requires the same treatment as the tulip. Anem- 
ones also flourish in the rock-garden. 

BOX can be grown in almost any soil, but prefers 
light soil with gravelly subsoil. See page 297. 

BROOM-FLOWER {Cytisus sco partus), a 
splendid flowering shrub with yellow flowers of 
handsome color, succeeds in dry, sandy places where 
most other plants fail. It can, therefore, be planted 
on rough dry banks. It grows from seed; and this 
can be sown in any sheltered place out of doors. 
Cuttings placed in a frame are also easy to strike. 

CAMOMILE will grow in any garden soil. It is 
a creeping plant and grows freely in dense masses. 
The flowers are white and blossom from June to 
August. The height attained is from twelve to 
eighteen inches. The foliage is finely divided and 
has a feathery appearance. The plant makes a good 
border, for it loves the sun. Propagate by division 



304 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

and cuttings. Camomile may be allowed to run over 
paving-stones, for it grows when trodden upon. 
CARNATIONS. A carnation specialist says: 
"A great number of amateur cultivators of the 
Carnation have an idea that if they obtain seed from 
a variety of Carnation, the seedlings produced from 
such seed will be reproductions of the parent plant. 
This, of course, is wrong, and it is well to mention 
it. Now to grow Carnations well they must have a 
good soil, or the plants will not produce flowers, or 
layers, for another season. For the open garden, I 
strongly recommend seedlings. The cultivator must 
not expect all the flowers to be as good as the parent, 
or even all double. There will be from ten to fifteen 
per cent with single flowers, all the others having 
double flowers, some as good as, or even better than, 
their parents; but the majority will be of uncertain 
quantity. 

"The seed will germinate in a hothouse well with- 
in a week from the time of sowing, and the seedlings 
should be pricked out in boxes as soon as large 
enough. Plant in good soil and let the plants be 
fifteen inches apart and two feet between the rows. 
Seedlings are not nearly so particular in regard to 
soil as named varieties. The seedling is more robust; 
and, given the same cultural conditions, grows more 




JiKiaBL-^iim- 



LAY-OUT OF STATELY GARDENS 305 

vigorously. It is always best to dig a trench some 
time before the seedling is planted. This admits of 
the soil being aerated. The plants should be put 
out after a shower of good rain. I trench it eighteen 
inches deep, put a layer of manure at the bottom 
and another layer six or eight inches below the 
surface. 

"A warning is necessary to those unacquainted 
with the nature of soils. It will not do to trench up 
soil that has not been there before. New subsoil is 
not adapted to grow anything until it has been well 
turned over two or three times and mixed with de- 
cayed manure. 

"After planting, give a light dressing of manure : 
it keeps the roots in better condition and the plant 
starts more freely into growth. Carnations must 
not be left to themselves after planting." 

Gilliflowers, pinks, and sweet-williams belong to 
this family. 

COLUMBINES prefer a situation where the 
roots can obtain moisture. They also do well and 
look at home in a rock-garden. "Gather ripe seeds 
in July and sow them so that the seedlings are well 
established before winter," an authority says. 
"Such plants will bloom the next year. Aquilegias 
often die out after their second year, although they 



3o6 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

are classed as perennials, and should therefore be 
treated as biennials and raised annually from seed. 
Seed is produced in abundance and should be sown 
as soon as ripe in a shady place in the garden, or 
in pans in a cold frame, care being taken to sow the 
seed very thinly. When the seedlings are large 
enough to handle they should be lifted and planted 
out in their permanent quarters. Aquilegias grow- 
ing in a garden are almost invariably cross-fertilized; 
and it is therefore necessary, where more than one 
variety is in bloom at the same time, to procure the 
seed from some other dependable source." 

COWSLIP. This flower needs a rich, light soil, 
not dry. Its small, yellow cup-like flowers with ruby 
spots in the center blossom in the late April and 
late May. It grows to six or twelve inches and 
prefers half-shade. It must be protected in the win- 
ter. Propagate by seed. Cowslips make a charm- 
ing border plant and are happy, also, in rock- 
gardens. 

CROCUS SATIVUS, the beautiful purple flower 
that blooms in autumn, should be planted near trees. 
"The cultivation of the garden crocus is so simple 
a matter that the merest novice may plant the bulbs 
with the assurance that he, or she, will reap a bright 
reward in the near future, provided the burrowing 



LAY-OUT OF STATELY GARDENS 307 

mouse and flower-picking sparrow do not interfere 
with nature. Crocuses may be propagated from seed 
sown as soon as ripe in light, sandy soil in pans, o? 
pots. They reach their flowering stage in three 
years." 

CROW-FLOWERS. Some authorities, as we 
have seen, identify crow-flowers as the buttercup; 
others, as S cilia nutans. The buttercup is easy to 
raise in almost any soil. As it should be represented, 
it is well to put it in the rock-garden. See Harebell. 

CROWN-IMPERIAL. This plant, which the 
people of Shakespeare's time valued so highly, is 
rare in our gardens. The popularity of the flower 
decreased because of its unpleasant odor; but no 
Shakespeare garden can be without at least one rep- 
resentative because of Ferditds words. The Crown- 
Imperial is a very showy plant and makes a splendid 
effect if planted in groups. It also looks well among 
shrubs and in a border. The blossoms appear in 
March, April, and May, and are very handsome as 
to shape and color. The bell-shaped flowers, 
orange-red or reddish-orange, droop gracefully be- 
neath an upright crown of leaves. When the foliage 
turns brown, the plant can be cut down. Propagate 
by offsets in deep, rich, well-drained soil, and divide 
every two or three years. 



3o8 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

CUCKOO-FLOWERS {Lychnis Flos cuculz), or 
the Ragged-Robin, with its deeply cut petals of rich 
blue, makes a pretty border plant as it is an abun- 
dant bloomer. (See page 214.) 

CUPID'S FLOWER. See Pansy. 

DAFFODILS do better in half-shade than in 
full sunlight. The earlier the buds can be procured 
and planted the better : August is none too soon. 

"Late planted bulbs must necessarily lose much 
of their vigor by being kept out of the ground too 
long, and the longer the period of root-growth the 
stronger the flower-spikes. As regards soil one that 
is fairly retentive of moisture is more suited to the 
requirements than a light staple that soon dries up. 
They should be covered to the depth of one and a 
half times the depth of the bulb measured from base 
to shoulder. A bulb two inches deep can be covered 
to a depth of three inches, and so on in proportion. 
In light soil the bulbs should be placed a little deeper 
and in heavy soil not quite so deep." 

DAISY. In the spring florists Jiave plenty of 
English daisies to sell in little pots. Propagate by 
seed in spring or division in September. This daisy 
is pink and white; the little rays tipped with pink 
sometimes almost cover the yellow center. The 
plant requires rich soil and plenty of sunshine. It 



LAY-OUT OF STATELY GARDENS 309 

blooms in mid-April to mid-June and grows to a 
height of three to six inches. The daisy must be 
protected in the winter. It is most desirable for 
borders and makes a charming edging. 

DIAN'S BUD, Artemesia^ or wormwood, is a 
bushy foliage plant of small globe-shaped, drooping 
flowers of whitish yellow. The leaves are finely di- 
vided. Propagate by division. This grows in a 
poor soil and likes sunshine. 

FENNEL, though regarded as a weed, can be 
utilized so that it makes a decorative appearance, 
for its foliage is light and a brilliant green. The 
tiny flowers are yellow and grow in flat-tipped clus- 
ters on branching stalks. They blossom in July. 
The plant rises to a good height and prefers rich, 
deep, open soil and plenty of sunlight. Plant fresh 
seeds and make the plants grow in bold groups. 

FERNS are effective planted in pots, jars, or tubs, 
and look well at the sides of the steps and on the 
newel-posts of the steps. They look well in a rock- 
garden. 

FLOWER-DE-LUCE {fleur-de-lis). There are 
many native American flags, or irises; but the plants 
nearest to those described by Parkinson are the Iris 
florentina, the Iris pseudacorus^ and the great purple 
Turkey flag. 



310 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

The Iris florentina grows from one to two feet, 
blooms in May and June, with large, delicately 
scented white flowers tinted blue and streaked with 
purple veins and having orange-yellow beards. The 
fragrant rootstock is the orris-root. Propagate by 
division in soil not too dry. This is an excellent 
border plant and prefers half-shade. 

Iris pseudacorus grows from one and a half to 
three feet and blossoms in late May and late June. 
It forms luxuriant clumps, having many stems, 
which bear large broad-petaled flowers, yellow 
veined with brown. The leaves — long, stiff, and 
gray-green — are handsome. This is a beautiful plant 
for the margin of water, and is very pretty around 
a bird-bath. Propagate by division. This iris likes 
the sun. 

The great purple Turkey flag will grow in either 
sun, or half-shade. The height is from two to four 
feet. The large fragrant flowers bloom in May, 
June, and July. This iris is very handsomic in large 
groups and in the border. Propagate by division. 
It is a gross feeder, but grows well in any garden 
soil. 

GILLIFLOWERS. See Carnations. 

HAREBELL. This lovely jewel of the English 
woodland has drooping bell-shaped flowers, fra- 



LAY-OUT OF STATELY GARDENS 311 

grant, and blue in color. The bells hang from tall 
stems. The leaves are long and grass-like. The 
height is from eight to twelve inches. It is bulbous. 
Propagate by offsets and give it occasionally a top 
dressing of manure. S cilia nutans blooms in May 
and June and prefers half-shade. There are varie- 
ties, white, pink, and purple. 

HOLLY should be used for hedges and ornamen- 
tal bushes. Some varieties grow very well in certain 
parts of the United States. 

HONEYSUCKLE grows easily in any garden. 
It is a luxuriant creeper and is generous with its 
blossoms and lavish in fragrance. Use it for hedges 
and to climb over walls, arbors, trellises, gates and 
wire screens. 

IVY. English ivy is a climbing and trailing ever- 
green sub-shrub, with beautiful large, dark-green 
leaves, richly veined, and of graceful heart-shape. 
The flowers are inconspicuous, but the berries, al- 
most jet-black, are decorative. Propagate by half- 
ripe cuttings in rich, damp soil and protect in win- 
ter. Ivy prefers shade. It blossoms in June and 
July. 

LADY'S-SMOCK {Card amine pretensis) will 
grow in sun, or shade, but prefers a moist soil. 
Propagate by division. Its blossoms are pinkish lilac 



312 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

in terminal clusters and appear in June. The 
foliage is deeply cut. Lady's-smocks will grow in 
rock-gardens and are excellent border-plants. 

LARK'S-HEELS. See Nasturtium. 

LARKSPUR is a glorious flower, noble in masses 
of bloom and fine in growth, highly decorative, and 
lasts well besides. "Delphiniums are very easy to 
grow and can be planted at almost any time, but the 
best seasons are early autumn and spring when new 
growth commences. The great point is to plant 
them in rich well-dug and manured soil and strew 
coal-ashes about for the reason that slugs are very 
partial to these plants. Ample space must be left 
for full development as with age the roots increase 
greatly, so that two and a half feet apart is none 
too much. The plant needs a rather rich ground, 
for its growth is strong. Larkspur looks well planted 
in the back row of the mixed border." 

LAVENDER is a precious, fragrant, hardy bush. 
Its sweet-smelling leaves and blue flowers are ever 
welcome, whether in the border, or as a low hedge, 
or standing alone. A very light soil and sunshine 
are essential. Propagate by cuttings in early autumn 
out of doors in a sheltered, but not shady, place and 
plant out when rooted, or divide in March, plant- 
ing out the rooted slips one foot apart in light soil. 



LAY-OUT OF STATELY GARDENS 313 

Lavender may be used to beautify walks. Bushes 
in some sunny corner of the garden are pretty for 
picturesque growth and color. Lavender can be 
grouped so as to give a touch of silvery gray to the 
border. It permits itself to be clipped, and it must 
be cared for, or it will grow twisted and gnarled. If 
flower-spikes are desired, the lavender must be 
clipped in autumn; if the gray leaf is all that is 
desired then it must be clipped in the spring before 
the young twigs have begun to grow. 

LILIES. The lily bed should be deep — three feet 
if possible, — the soil open and porous without being 
light. There cannot be a better material than sound 
fibrous loam with which leaf-mold has been mixed. 
Lilies are rarely benefited by animal manure. The 
bed should be sheltered from boisterous winds, for 
lilies lose half their beauty if it becomes necessary 
to stake their graceful stems, and partially shaded 
so that the sun does not parch the ground, or pre- 
maturely wither their dainty petals. In times of 
drought the beds should be given a copious soaking 
of an hour or tivd' 5 duration. 

The Madonna Lily is a great favorite and is very 
effective in small clumps against a background of 
shrubs and in borders. Unfortunately it is subject 
to disease. It is bulbous. Propagate by offsets, 



314 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

scales, or very slowly by seed. It likes rich, well- 
dressed soil and half-shade. Avoid contact with 
manure. The Madonna Lily flowers in June and 
July with white blossoms. 

The Martagon has much reflexed flowers on long 
spire-like racemes and is light-purple with darker 
spots. The Martagon daUnaticum grows from six 
to seven feet. It has dark purple flowers. There 
is also a white kind. Both are very hardy and suc- 
ceed in open borders. 

The Chalcedonicum^ or Scarlet Turk's-Cap, grows 
from three to four feet high and has waxy flowers 
of bright vermilion. This is the brightest of all 
lilies. It is very hardy and easy to cultivate. 

Lily-of-the- Valley flourishes in the shade and also 
where there is a little (but not too much) sunlight. 
It thrives beneath shade trees and near a wall. Room 
for development it must have; otherwise it becomes 
crowded to such an extent that the plants deteriorate 
and fail to bloom. The Lily-of-the-Valley should 
be planted in September or October. Prepare the 
soil by deep digging and mix in a plentiful supply 
of decayed manure. Leaf-soil and road sweepings 
may be added to heavy soil. Plant crowns about 
three inches apart to allow room for future develop- 



LAY-OUT OF STATELY GARDENS 315 

ment. Bury the crowns just below the surface and 
make them moderately firm. When all are planted 
mulch with rolled manure and leaf-soil in equal 
parts, covering the bed to a depth of two inches, 

LONG PURPLES. This Arum, being a plant of 
the woods, does well in the rock-garden. The best 
plan is to remove a Jack-in-the-Pulpit from the 
woods with some of its native soil and transplant it 
in the garden. It grows in shade and sun alike. 

MARIGOLD. For marigolds choose a light, dry, 
poor soil and a sunny spot. Sow seed any time from 
February to June. Seeds sown in the spring will 
produce flowers in June, Sow in drills ten inches 
apart and water moderately. Thin the seedlings 
and remove into rows ten inches apart. In rich soil 
the plant grows too large and fails to blossom well. 
H. H. Thomas in "The Complete Gardener" says: 

"The ordinary reader understands Marigold to 
refer to the French, African and Pot Marigolds. The 
botanical name Calendula is said to imply that the 
plant keeps pace with the calendar. In other words 
that it is nearly always in bloom. And really this 
is not very far from the truth. Once introduce the 
Pot Marigold into your garden and you will rarely 
be without flowers. It is hardy and seeds itself very 



3i6 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

freely. Seed may be sown out of doors where the 
plants are to bloom, choosing for preference poor 
ground, otherwise the plants will grow freely enough, 
but blooms will be scarce." 

The French marigold is deep yellow, orange, or 
pale yellow striped or marked with brown, and 
crinkled. It grows from twelve to fifteen inches 
high. "The Gentleman's Labyrinth" gives quaint 
instructions for the growth of the Marigold : 

"The seeds of this flower are commonly bestowed 
in a husbandly and well-dressed earth, but this 
rather done by the counsel of the skilful in the in- 
crease of the Moon, whereby the flowers may grow 
the bigger and broader. But to procure the flowers 
to grow the doubler, bigger and broader the owner 
ought to remove the plants and set them in new 
beds, lying in sunny places herein considering at 
those times of removing that the Moon be increasing 
so nigh as you can. These, after certain leaves 
spring up, if they be often removed and clipped by 
the course of the Moon, yield a better, broader and 
fairer flower, and they yield always more flowers in 
the harvest than in the spring time." 

MARJORAM is a branching plant with flowers 
in clusters, purplish pink. Propagate by seed and 
division in early spring in any garden soil. Sweet 



LAY-OUT OF STATELY GARDENS 317 

marjoram must be treated as an annual, for winter 
kills it. The leaves are deliciously fragrant and are 
useful in cookery. 

MINT {Mentha spicata, spearmint) has purplish 
flowers that bloom in July and August. These blos- 
soms appear in slender spikes. The leaves have a 
pleasant taste and are used for flavoring. Spearmint 
will grow in any ordinary soil, but it likes the sun. 
It grows from one to two feet high. 

Mentha rotundifolia has round leaves, variegated, 
and pale yellow flowers that appear in June and 
July. Propagate by division. The height is from 
one to two feet. The flowers are unimportant; but 
the foliage is sufficiently interesting to use as an 
edging, and this variety is useful to cover waste 
places. 

MONK'S-HOOD has large showy helmet-shaped 
flowers of deep purple-blue growing on racemes on 
erect stems. The leaves are deeply cut. The plant 
is suited to borders and rough places. Propagate 
by division in rich soil. Monk's-hood likes sun or 
shade. It blooms in late summer or early autumn. 
The roots and flowers are poisonous. It grows from 
three to four feet. 

MYRTLE {Myrtus latifolia). This plant has 
charming foliage and pure white flowers. Both 



3i8 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

leaves and flowers are fragrant. The fragrance of 
the foliage is caused by an oil, which is secreted in 
the leaves. Myrtle is quite hardy. Propagate by 
cuttings, or partially ripened shoots. Myrtle looks 
well in large pots. 

NASTURTIUM. Tropaolum is the botanical 
name, meaning trophy, for the leaves suggest a buck- 
ler and the flowers a helmet. Treat as a hardy an- 
nual. Sow seeds in the spring. Nasturtium is a 
splendid climber over rocks, stones, or latticework, 
and a prolific bloomer. 

OXLIP. Propagate by fresh seed, divisions, or 
cuttings in rich, light soil, not dry. Protect in win- 
ter. The oxlip grows from eight to twelve inches 
and likes half-shade. It resembles the primrose, but 
has larger flowers. These open in May and are 
yellow. The leaves are broad and flat and wrinkled. 

PANSY. Heart' s-ease and Johnny-Jump-Up are 
other names for the Viola tricolor^ which has a won- 
derful length of blossoming, for the flowers continue 
from mid-April to mid-September. The flowers 
must be constantly picked, or the plant deteriorates. 
This precious little plant is very easy to raise, pro- 
vided it is protected from the noonday sun. Propa- 
gate by seed or division in any garden soil, and in 
half-shade or morning sunlight. Protect it from 



LAY-OUT OF STATELY GARDENS 319 

the hot noon-day sun. Pansies look well in a bed 
by themselves and make a beautiful border plant. 

PINKS. See Carnations. 

POMEGRANATE is a highly decorative shrub, 
particularly the beautiful double scarlet variety 
{Punica rubrum florepleno), which flowers in Au- 
gust. Plant cutting in a big pot, jar, or tub, or bu; 
plants. Stand these plants in pairs in some con- 
spicuous place in the garden and they will add great 
elegance. 

POPPY. The common garden herbaceous poppy 
flowers in May and June, in sun or half-shade, rising 
from two to three feet. It has large flowers and 
handsome divided foliage. For a Shakespeare gar- 
den select the white. Propagate by dividing in early 
autumn. The poppy is a gross feeder and likes 
rather moist loam enriched with cow manure. 

PRIMROSE. This flower blooms from mid- 
April to mid-June. It has several solitary pale yel- 
low blossoms on naked stem. It grows from six to 
nine inches high. Protect in winter. Propagate by 
seeds and offsets in rich, light soil, not dry. 

ROSE. "How to plant a rose may seem a simple 
matter, but many have laid the foundation of failure 
through bad planting," writes a rose cultivator. 
"Never plant in a very wet soil, nor allow crude 



320 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

manures to come into direct contact with the roots. 
See that the roots are spread out properly and natu- 
rally, not pressed into a small hole and cramped 
or distorted from the first. Plant dwarf kinds two 
inches deeper than the junction of the rose and stock, 
and standards three inches below the original root. 
To place a small grower side by side with one of 
three or four times the strength is a great mistake; 
the weaker grower has no chance whatever. For 
medium growers three feet is a good distance, while 
plants of greater vigor will need to be from four 
feet to six feet apart. Do not plant against a wall ; 
but leave some four or six inches between the wall 
and the base of the plant. "It should not be difficult 
to obtain the roses familiar to Shakespeare. The 
old Hundred-Leaved and Damask are easy to pro- 
cure. The Rosa alba, or white rose, has two familiar 
varieties called "Maiden's Blush" and "Madame 
Plantier." 

The Musk-Rose may give some trouble, but E. T. 
Cook gives us a good clue as well as instructions 
for growing it. He says: 

"These are very old roses, certainly known in 
England three hundred years ago. The flowers are 
insignificant individually, but collectively are pleas- 
ing and appear late in August. They require good 




KNOTS FROM MARKHAM 





SIMPLE GARDEN BEDS 



LAY-OUT OF STATELY GARDENS 321 

culture, and very little, if any, pruning. As pillar 
roses they are seen at their best. 'Fringed' is very 
pretty and strikes freely from cuttings. Its color 
is white shaded sulphur. All the Musk-Roses have 
a peculiar musk-like odor, but this is distilled only 
on still damp mornings or evenings. 'Eliza Verry' 
is white, very free, the flowers appearing in large 
corymbs. 'Rivers Musk' is a pretty pink variety, 
well worth cultivating. Of the Hybrid Musks the 
'Garland' is of rampant growth. It has immense 
corymbs of tiny white flowers with innumerable lit- 
tle buff colored buds, peering out among them. 
'Madame d' Arblay' is another. 'Nivea' is a beauti- 
ful kind for a pergola, or fence." 

The "Noisette" is also a hybrid musk, named for 
a French gardener of Charleston, South Carolina, 
who took the seed from the musk-rose in 1817. 

There is a difference between the Eglantine, or 
Sweetbrier, and the Dog-rose, although they are dif- 
ficult to distinguish. 

"The 'Dog Rose' sends up long arching branches 
some six to nine feet high and perhaps more; the 
'Sweetbrier' is content with branches three or four 
feet in length. And whereas in the 'Dog Rose' the 
branch continues single the 'Sweetbrier' sends out 
side growths, or branchlets quickly forming a dense 



322 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

bush. Note also the prickles. To a certain extent 
they are stout and hooked like those of the 'Dog 
Rose,' but more irregularly placed. On the young 
root-shoots there is a marked difference, for whilst 
on the 'Sweetbrier' this young growth is covered 
with set<z^ some of them very small, tipped with 
glands, in the 'Dog Rose' they are totally absent." ^ 

ROSEMARY. Tender, aromatic sub-shrub with 
small flowers in short racemes. Propagate by seeds, 
cuttings, or layers in dry, light soil. The flowers 
are purple and bluish. Rosemary is valued in 
cookery as a flavoring. It can be allowed to wander 
all over the garden. It was always a favorite border- 
plant in old-fashioned gardens. 

RUE. The "herb of grace" is not very pretty. 
It has much divided leaves and panicles of small 
fragrant flowers, yellowish-green, or greenish-yel- 
low. Propagate by seed and division. Rue needs 
a sheltered position and protection in winter. Its 
height is about two feet. 

SAVORY. Sow in open ground at the end of 
March, or early April, in light, rich soil. Thin the 
seedlings moderately; they may remain where they 
are, or be transplanted. Sown along the outside of 

^Pemberton, "Roses" (London, 1908). 



LAY-OUT OF STATELY GARDENS 323 

beds, savory makes a good edging. It is useful in 
cookery. 

SWEET BALM. Melissa officinalis is the botani- 
cal name. Sweet balm is loved for its fragrance. 
The yellowish white flowers bloom in June, July, 
and August. It grows about two feet and loves the 
sun. Propagate by seed and division. 

SWEET-WILLIAM is a valuable little garden 
plant, for it blooms profusely in June and July and 
is vigorous and rapidly spreading. The flowers are 
in double clusters, pink, white, red, and party- 
colored, single and double. Propagate by seed in 
any soil. See Carnations. 

THYME. This aromatic herb is of dense growth 
with small, pale-lilac flowers in terminal spikes. Its 
pale, bright-green foliage makes it an attractive 
creeper for banks. Thyme also grows well in a rock- 
garden and makes a good border-plant also. Propa- 
gate by seed and division. The plant grows in any 
soil. It attains a height of from one to two inches 
and blossoms in June and July. Every one knows 
the value of dried thyme for flavoring in cookery. 

VIOLETS prefer shady places. They are at home 
in the rock-garden, and they are very charming if 
planted on a little bank. They can be sown on the 
grassy slope of a terrace. In that case, let them 



324 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

come up of their own sweet will. The graceful 
heart-shaped leaves of the Viola odorata and its 
purple blossoms that open in late April and May 
are known and loved by every one. Propagate by 
seed or division, selecting a loose, rich, sandy soil. 

XXII 

Votpourri 

As the ladies of Shakespeare's time were so fond 
of making -potpourri^ I think it may be of value to 
place here an old recipe, which any one who has a 
garden can follow: 

"Many fragrant flowers and leaves can be used 
in the making of an old-fashioned bowl of 'pot- 
pourri. Those usually employed are rose-petals, 
lavender, lemon-plant, verbena, myrtle, rosemary, 
bay, mignonette, violets, pinks and syringa. Thyme, 
mint and other sweet herbs should be used, if avail- 
able. Shred the larger leaves and dry all in the 
sun. Mix an ounce of orris-root, allspice, bay-salt 
and cloves and mix freely with about twelve hand- 
fuls of the dried petals and leaves and store in a 
jar, or bowl. A small quantity of essence of lemon 
and spirits of lavender may be added, but are not 
necessary. Should the mixture become too moist, 
add more powdered orris-root." 



A MASKE OF FLOWERS 



A MASKE OF FLOWERS 

IT seems to me that nothing more appropriate 
could be placed here as an epilogue to this book 
on the Shakespeare garden than the contempo- 
rary description of "A Maske of Flowers by the 
Gentlemen of Gray's Inn at Whitehall on Twelfth 
Night, 1613, being the last of the solemnities and 
magnificences which were performed at the marriage 
of the Earl of Somerset and Lady Frances, daughter 
of the Earl of Suffolk, Lord Chamberlain." 

This was printed in 1614; and I have quoted it 
from the "History of Gardening in England" by 
the Hon. Alicia Amherst (London, 1895), who 
copied it from a very rare original. 

This description not only presents a perfect pic- 
ture of a Shakespearian garden but will be a revela- 
tion to those persons who think that only crude stage- 
setting existed in Elizabethan and Jacobean days. 
Although elaborate stage-setting was restricted to 
private entertainments, the designers of the period 
knew how to produce splendid effects. There is 

327 



328 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

nothing more elaborate in the theater today than this 
ornate and brilliantly lighted scene : 

"When the Dance ended, the loud music sounded. 
The curtains being drawn was seen a Garden of a 
glorious and strange beauty, cast into four Quarters 
with a cross-walk and alleys compassing each Quar- 
ter. In the middle of the cross-walk stood a goodly 
Fountain, raised on four columns of silver. On the 
tops whereof strode four statues of silver which sup- 
ported a bowl in circuit containing four and twenty 
foot and was raised from the ground nine foot in 
height, in the middle whereof, upon scrolls of silver 
and gold, was placed a globe garnished with four 
golden mask heads, out of which issued water into 
the bowl; above stood a golden Neptune, in height 
three foot, holding in his hand a trident. 

"The Garden walls were of brick, artificially 
painted in perspective, all along which were placed 
fruit-trees with artificial leaves and fruits. The 
Garden within the walls was railed about with rails 
of three foot high, adorned with balusters of silver, 
between which were placed pedestals beautified with 
transparent lights of variable colors. Upon the 
pedestals stood silver columns, upon the tops where- 
of were personages of gold, lions of gold and uni- 
corns of silver. Every personage and beast did hold 



A MASKE OF FLOWERS 329 

a torchet burning, that gave light and luster to the 
whole fabric. 

"Every Quarter of the Garden was finely hedged 
about with a low hedge of cypress and juniper; the 
Knots within set with artificial flowers. In the two 
first Quarters were two Pyramids, garnished with 
gold and silver and glittering with transparent lights 
resembling carbuncles, sapphires and rubies. 

"In every corner of each Quarter were great pots 
of gilliflowers which shadowed certain lights placed 
behind them and made resplendent and admirable 
luster. The two farther Quarters were beautified 
with tulips of divers colors, and in the middle and 
in the corners of the said Quarters were set great 
tufts of several kinds of flowers receiving luster from 
secret lights placed behind them. 

"At the farther end of the Garden was a Mount, 
raised by degrees resembling banks of earth covered 
with grass. On the top of the Mount stood a goodly 
Arbor, substantially made and covered with arti- 
ficial trees and with arbor flowers such as eglantine, 
honeysuckles and the like. The Arbor was in length 
three and thirty foot, in height one and twenty, sup- 
ported with termes of gold and silver. It was di- 
vided into six arches and three doors answerable 
to the three walks of the Garden. 



330 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

"In the middle of the Arbor rose a goodly large 
turret and at either end a smaller. Upon the top 
of the Mount in the front thereof was a bank of 
flowers, curiously painted behind, while within the 
arches the maskers sat unseen. 

"Behind the Garden, over the top of the Arbor, 
were set artificial trees appearing like an Orchard 
joining to the Garden; and over all was drawn in 
perspective a Firmament like the skies in a clear 
night. Upon a grassy seat under the Arbor sat the 
Garden Gods in number twelve, apparrelled in long 
robes of green rich taffeta, caps on their heads and 
chaplets of flowers. In the midst of them sat 
Primaura, at whose entreaty they descended to the 
stage, and, marching up to the King, sung to lutes 
and theorbos." ^ 

* The tenor lute. 



COMPLETE LIST OF SHAKESPEARIAN FLOW- 
ERS WITH BOTANICAL IDENTIFICATIONS 

Anemone {Anemone purpurea striata stellata). 

Box (Buxus sempervirens). 

Broom-flower {Cytisus scoparius). 

Camomile (Anthemis nobilis). 

Carnation (Diantkus caryophyllus). 

Columbine {Aquilegia vulgaris). 

Cowslip {Paralysis vulgaris pratensis). 

Crocus {Crocus verus sativus autumnalis). 

Crow-flower {Scilla nutans). 

Crown-imperial {Fritillaria imperalis). 

Cuckoo-buds {Ranunculus). 

Cuckoo-flowers {Lychnis Flos cuculi). 

Daffodil {Narcissus pseudo-narcissus), 

Daisy {Bellis perennis). 

Diana's-bud {Artemesia) . 

Fennel {Fceniculum vulgare). 

Fern {Pteris aquilina). 

Flower-de-luce {Iris pseudacorus). 

Gilliflower {Caryophyllus major). 

Harebell {Scilla nutans). 

Holly {Ilex aquifolium). 

Honeysuckle {Lonicera perfolium). 

Ivy {Hedera helix). 

Lady-smocks {Cardamine pratensis). 

Lark's-heels, Nasturtium. 

331 



332 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

Larkspur {Delphinium). 

Lavender (Lavendula spied), 

Lily (Lilium candidum). 

Long purples {Arum masculata). 

Marigold {Calendula officinalis). 

Marjorum {Origanum vulgare). 

Mint {Mentha). 

Mistletoe {Viscum album). 

Monks-hood {Aconitum Napellus), 

Myrtle {Myrtus latifolia). 

Oxlip {Primula eliator). 

Pansy {Viola tricolor). 

Pomegranate {Punica). 

Poppy {Papaver somniferum). 

Primrose {Primula vulgaris). 

Rose {Rosa). 

Rosemary {Rosmarinus officinalis). 

Rue {Ruta graveolus). 

Savory {Satureia). 

Sweet Balm {Melissa officinalis). 

Thyme {Thymus serpyllum). 

Violet {Viola odorata). 



APPENDIX 

ELIZABETHAN GARDEN AT SHAKESPEARe's 
BIRTHPLACE 

TWO reports made in the spring of 1920, 
one by Frederick C. Wellstood, secretary 
and librarian of the Trustees and Guardians 
of Shakespeare's Birthplace, and the other by Ernest 
Law, C.B., one of the trustees, will doubtless be of 
interest to the reader. They have been made avail- 
able through the courtesy of Mr. Law. 

Mr. Wellstood, writing on Easter, 1920, in his 
report says: 

"The appeal of the Trustees and Guardians of 
Shakespeare's Birthplace, &c. issued three months 
ago, for gifts of Elizabethan plants and flowers, 
wherewith to stock his 'Great Garden' at Stratford- 
upon-Avon, has had a very gratifying response. The 
King and Queen, Queen Alexandra and the Prince 
of Wales, have graciously interested themselves in 
the project, and have given practical support by 

333 



334 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

valuable contributions of old-fashioned roses and 
other flowers, 

"From the gardens of all the Royal Palaces, which 
were known to Shakespeare, ample parcels of the 
same sorts of flowers as grew in them when he visited 
them have been forwarded to Stratford-upon-Avon. 
Thus, from Greenwich, where we know that he ap- 
peared as an actor before Queen Elizabeth at Christ- 
mas, 1594; from Windsor, where his Company per- 
formed before the same Queen — probably in "The 
Merry Wives of Windsor" — as well as from Frog- 
more, which that play proves his acquaintance with ; 
from Hampton Court — out of the Old Tudor 
Garden, 'circum-mured with brick,' which he must 
have visited when he and his fellows of the 'King's 
Company of Actors' spent ten days there during the 
Christmastide of 1603-4, presenting six plays before 
King James and his Court — from the gardens of all 
these places large consignments of plants have 
reached Shakespeare's Garden. 

"From Wilton, likewise, where Shakespeare and 
his Company first acted before King James, a large 
number of specimens of every plant and flower 
wanted by the Trustees, has been sent by the present 
owner — the lineal descendant of the one, and the 
kinsman and representative of the other, of the two 



ELIZABETHAN GARDEN 335 

'most noble and incomparable Paire of Brethren, 
William Earle of Pembroke and Philip Earle of 
Montgomery . . . who prosequuted the Author 
living with so much favor' — to quote the words of 
the famous 'First Folio,' which was dedicated to 
them. 

"Similarly, from the gardens of other places, 
which Shakespeare must have known well, have 
come very welcome gifts, notably from Charlecote, 
close to Stratford — the beautiful home of the Lucys 
for 750 years, where Shakespeare is said when a 
youth to have poached the deer of Sir Thomas Lucy, 
who had him whipped for his offense — whence now 
comes a charming collection of the poet's favorite 
flowers from the direct lineal descendant and heiress 
of the original 'Justice Shallow.' 

"The trustees have also received choice batches of 
old-fashioned flowers from the gardens of medieval 
Castles mentioned in the plays — Glamis and Caw- 
dor, for instance — and some which were probably 
well known to Shakespeare, such as Berkeley Castle ; 
and from the great Tudor houses also, which he 
knew well, at any rate by repute, such as Knole, 
Burghley House, and Cobham Hall. The owner of 
Cobham Hall sends specimens of the famous 'Cob- 
ham' Rose, known to have been grown in the garden 



336 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

there for four or five hundred years. From Esher 
Place also — the 'Aster House' of 'King Henry VIIF 
— come many beautiful flowers and herbs. 

"The sentiment, which has prompted such 
generosity, has equally appealed to many possessors 
of more modern gardens; while the authorities of 
Kew Gardens, regarding the scheme as one of na- 
tional concern, have cordially aided the Trustees 
both with counsel and with contributions. 

"Last, but by no means least, are the many small 
gifts from quite small gardens, even of cottagers; 
while, in some ways, the most pleasing of all, are 
the subscriptions from school children of some of the 
poorest districts in the East End of London — for 
instance, of the Mansford Street Central, and 
Pritchard's Road Schools, Bethnal Green — for the 
purchase of favorite flowers of the dramatist, whose 
plays they have so often witnessed with delight at 
the 'Old Vic' and elsewhere. 

"Thus, effect has been given to a prime desire of 
the Trustees, that as large as possible a number of 
people in every section of the community should be 
associated with this tribute to Shakespeare's memory. 

"Most of the plants needful to furnish forth 
Shakespeare's garden in the style of his own time 
have been forthcoming in sufficient quantities — yet 



ELIZABETHAN GARDEN 337 

there are some important gaps still to be supplied. 
These are: — Box, dwarf Box, both the ordinary 
and the 'Gilded' variety; Thrift; Thyme, the Golden 
and Glaucous, as well as the Wild; and that pretty 
herb, known under its simple old English name as 
'Lavender Cotton.' Of all of these, thousands of 
plants are still needed. Similarly of Pinks, 
'Streaked Gillyflowers'; 'Spike Lavender'; and of 
Pansies — 'Love in Idleness,' — pale and dark 'purple 
with Love's wound.' Of 'Eglantine' — Sweet Briar 
— a few scores would be very welcome. 

"Such shortages are mainly due to the large 
quantities of these plants required for the purpose 
of filling the intricate-patterned beds of the 'Curious 
Knotted Garden.' That kind of garden was an in- 
variable adjunct to every house of importance in 
Shakespeare's time, and the Trustees are laying one 
out on what is believed to be the exact site of the 
poet's own 'knotted garden,' modeling it on the 
designs printed in the contemporary books on garden- 
ing — the designs being followed with a fidelity and 
completeness unattempted, it is believed, for two 
hundred and eighty years. At the same time, sug- 
gestions have naturally been sought in Bacon's 
famous Essay 'On Gardens.' . . ." 



338 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

Shakespeare's garden restored 

Mr. Law's report, which is dated "Shakespeare's 
Birthday, a. d, 1920," says: 

"The project of laying out the ground attached to 
Shakespeare's home in his later years as an Eliza- 
bethan garden, to be stocked with all the old- 
fashioned flowers mentioned by him in his plays or 
well known in his time, first took practical shape 
last winter. 



the long borders 

"The first step was to lay out the long, narrow 
strip of ground by the side of the wall parallel with 
Chapel Lane as a border for summer and autumn 
flowers — hollyhocks, canterbury-bells, lupins, lark- 
spurs, crown imperials, lilies, and so on. As a back- 
ground for these — and also to hide the ugly, cast- 
iron railings that disfigure the top of the wall — there 
was planted a row of yew trees. This border of some 
300 feet long has been treated in the formal fashion 
of the olden time . . . being divided into com- 
partments, separated by 'buttresses' supporting 'pil- 
lars' or 'columns' surmounted by 'balls.' 

"On the path side the beds are edged with box — 



ELIZABETHAN GARDEN 339 

'dwarfe boxe, of excellent use to border up a knott 
or long beds in a garden.' 

"The beds ranging with these, on the other side 
of the gravel walk, are at present entirely occupied 
with spring flowers — largely gifts, like the others, 
from contributors all over the kingdom. In the 
summer they will be furnished with the low-growing 
flowers known to the gardeners of the early years of 
James the First's reign — carnations, 'our streaked 
gillyvors,' pansies, stocks, fox-gloves, sweet- 
williams, snapdragons, and so on. . . . 

THE WILD BANK OF HEATH 

"At the eastern or lower end of the garden the aim 
has been to carry out, so far as the space available 
admits, Bacon's idea, expressed in his famous essay 
'Of Gardens,' of a 'heath or desert, in the going 
forth, framed, as much as may be, to a natural wild- 
ness.' With this object, there has been thrown up an 
irregular bank, whereon have already been planted 
most of the flowers and herbs mentioned by Shake- 
speare in his writings ; and where, it is hoped, every 
species known in his time will eventually find a 
place. 

"In doing this the great natural philosopher's pre- 
cepts have been faithfully followed, modified by 



340 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

hints derived from the greater poet. 'Some thickets,' 
says Bacon, 'I would have made only in sweetbriar 
(eglantine) and honeysuckle (woodbine) ; and the 
ground set with violets and primroses (oxlips) ; for 
these be sweet and prosper in the shade.' This has 
been done: and with wild thyme — many square 
yards of it — added, and also musk-roses — a few pro- 
cured with great difficulty, so unaccountably 
neglected are they in our too-pretentious modern 
gardens — they will form here, in effect, Titania's 
Bower — 

"I know a bank whereon the wild thyme blows, 
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows, 
Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine, 
With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine. 
There sleeps Titania some time of the night, 
Lull'd in these flowers, with dances and delight. 

"Bacon, of course, often witnessed the perform- 
ances of Shakespeare's plays at Court, as well as 
in the public theaters ; and reminiscent echoes of that 
beautiful passage were probably ringing in his ears 
when he penned the sentences quoted above. 

"With passages in plays other than 'The Dream,' 
Bacon has also parallels. His essay happens to have 
been published exactly twelve months after the pro- 
duction of 'A Winter's Tale' at Court, and in his 



ELIZABETHAN GARDEN 341 

somewhat arid enumeration therein of the seasonal 
succession of flowering plants, we seem to hear echoes 
of those exquisite verses in Peredita's speeches — the 
most beautiful expression of the intimate love of 
flowers in all literature — 

". . . Daffodils, 
That come before the swallow dares, and take 
The winds of March with beauty; violets dim, 
But sweeter than the lids of Juno's eyes, 
Or Cytherea's breath ; pale primroses, 
That die unmarried ere they can behold 
Bright Phoebus in his strength. 

" 'For March,' writes Bacon, 'there come violets, 
especially the single blue, which are the earliest . . . 
and which, above all other flowers, yields the sweet- 
est smell in the air; also the yellow daffodil.' 'Lilies 
of all sorts, the flowre-de-luce being one,' says Per- 
dita. 'Flower-de-Luces, and lilies of all natures,' 
echoes Bacon, 

"Near the Wild Bank later on there may, perhaps, 
be planted some of those specimens of the topiary 
art, which were so general in Jacobean gardens. 
Even Bacon would admit them into his 'Princely 
Garden.' 'Little low hedges (of box or yew),' he 
writes, 'round like welts, with some pretty pyramids, 
I like well, and in some places fair columns.' But he 



342 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

would confine them to geometric patterns: 'I, for 
my part, do not like images cut out in juniper or 
other garden stuff, they be for children.' But then 
Shakespeare had children and grandchildren; and, 
besides, many children of the present day will visit 
his garden, much taken, we may be sure, with such 
curious devices, and delighting in our simple sweet 
old English flowers — very few of them, it is to 
be hoped, serious little prigs, bursting with 
botany. . . . 

THE "kNOTT garden" 

"It is now necessary to say a few words about the 
'Knott Garden' — ^an enclosure which, being an in- 
variable adjunct to every house of importance in 
Shakespeare's time, is the most essential part of the 
reconstruction, on Elizabethan lines, of the ground 
about New Place. It need not, however, engage us 
long: for M. Forestier's beautiful drawing of it rep- 
resents it as it is to be, better than any amount of 
wordy description. 

"The whole is closely modeled on the designs 
and views shown in the contemporary books on 
gardening; and for every feature there is unim- 
peachable warrant. The enclosing palisade — a very 
favorite device of the Jacobean gardeners — of 



ELIZABETHAN GARDEN 343 

Warwickshire oak, cleft, is exactly copied from the 
one in the famous tapestry of the 'Seven Deadly 
Sins' at Hampton Court. And here again Bacon's 
advice has been useful : The garden is best to be 
square, encompassed on all four sides with a stately 
arched hedge, the arches on pillars of carpenter's 
work, of some 10 foot high, and 6 foot broad.' The 
'tunnel,' or 'pleached bower, where honeysuckles, 
ripened by the sun, forbid the sun to enter' — follows 
ancient models, especially the one shown in the old 
contemporary picture in New Place Museum. 

"The dwarf wall, of old-fashioned bricks — hand- 
made, sun-dried, sand-iinished, with occasional 
'flarers,' laid in the Tudor bond, with wide mortar 
joints — is based on similar ones, still extant, of the 
period. The balustrade is identical, in its smallest 
details, with one figured in Didymus Mountain's 
'Gardener's Labyrinth,' published in 1577 — a book 
Shakespeare must certainly have consulted when lay- 
ing out his own Knott Garden. The paths are to be 
of old stone from Wilmcote, the home of Shake- 
speare's mother. The intricate, interlacing patterns 
of the Knott beds— 'the Knottes so enknotted it can- 
not be expressed,' as Cavendish says of Wolsey's 
garden — are taken, one from Mountain's book; two 
from Gervase Markham's 'Country Housewife's 



344 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 

Garden' (1613); and one from William Lawson's 
'New Orchard and Garden' (1618); and they are 
composed, as enjoined by those authorities, of box, 
thrift, lavender-cotton, and thyme, with their inter- 
spaces filled in with flowers. 

ROYAL ROSES FOR THE KNOTTED BEDS 

"In one point the Trustees have been able to 'go 
one better' than Shakespeare in his own 'curious 
knotted garden' — to use his own expression in 
'Love's Labour's Lost.' For neither King James, nor 
his Queen, Anne of Denmark, nor Henry Prince of 
Wales sent him — so far as we know — any flowers 
for his garden. On his 356th birthday, however, 
there will be planted four old-fashioned English 
rose-trees — one in the center of each of the four 
'knotted' beds — from King George, Queen Mary, 
Queen Alexandra, and the Prince of Wales. Surely 
Shakespeare, could he have known it, would have 
been touched by this tribute! 

"They will be planted by Lady Fairfax-Lucy, the 
heiress of Charlecote, and the direct lineal descend- 
ant of the Sir Thomas Lucy whose deer he is said 
to have poached, and who is supposed to have had 
him whipped for his offense, and who is believed to 



ELIZABETHAN GARDEN 345 

be satirized in the character of 'Justice Shallow.' 
This also might well have moved him I 

"Here, in the restored 'Knott Garden,' as every- 
where in the grounds about New Place, flowers — 
Shakespeare's Flowers — will clothe and wreathe and 
perfume everything, all else being merely devised to 
set them off — musk-roses, climbing-roses, crab- 
apples, wild cherries, clematis, honeysuckle, sweet- 
briar, and many more. 

"By next year, the Trustees expect to have some 
200,000 individual plants — including, of course, the 
crocuses, 'bold oxlips,' 'nodding violets,' 'winking 
marybuds,' 'pale primroses,' and 'azured harebells,' 
on the wild bank and lawn — decking, in succession 
through the months, the ground whereon the poet 
trod, their millions of blossoms, with every breath of 
air doing reverence, waving banners of gorgeous hue, 
and flinging the incense of their delicious fragrance 
in homage to the memory of William Shakespeare." 



INDEX 



Absinthe, 246 

Acacia, 35 

Acanthus, 22 

Aconite, 199, 248, 249 

Aconitum napellus, 248 

Adonis, 133 

Adonis Flower, 136 

^neas, 261 

Affectionate Shepherd, The, 49 

Albion, 148 

Aldine Press, 15 

Aldrich, Thomas B., quoted, 

163-164 
Allen, Grant, quoted, 139-140 
All's Well That Ends Well, 

230, 237 
Alleys, 59^1 
Amadis, de Gaul, 4 
Amarakos, 238 
Amaranth, 22 
Amaryllis, 166 
Amiens, 257 
Anemone, 22, 36, 80, 133-136, 

303 
Anemone purpurea striata stel- 

lata, 133 
Anglo-Saxons, 6 
Anglo-Saxons, gardens of, 6-7 
Annunciation Lily, 165, 166, 

267 
Anne Page, 243 
Anthemis nobilis, 244 
Apothecary, 31 
Appius and Virginia, quoted, 

?34. 
Aquilegia vulgaris, 137 
Arbor, 20, 48-49, 281 
Arbors, flowers for, 82 



Arcadia, quoted, 28 

Arches, 283 

Architects, Elizabethan, 23 

Ariel, loi 

Arnold, Matthew, quoted, 189 

Artemis, 247 

Artemisia, 246 

Assur-wood, 265 

As You Like It, song from, 257 

Attar of Rose, 159 

Auricula, 22 

Artichoke, 149 

Arum, 209 

Arum masculata, 209 

Arviragus, 97 

Asphodels, 113, 166 

Autolycus, 109, 152 

B 

Babar, garden of, 19-20 

Babar, quoted, 20 

Bacchus, 259 

Bachelor's Buttons, 22, 83 

Bacon, Francis, 35, 56, 125, 148, 

249 
Bacon, Francis, quoted, 44-4S, 

55-56, 64-66, 285 
Bagh-i-Vafa, 19-20 
Banquetting-house, 63, 82 
Barnfield, quoted, 49-50 
Basil, 14 

Bastard Daffodils, no 
Battle of Marathon, 236 
Bay, Dwarf, 83 
Bay, Red, 82 
Bay-Tree, 17 
Bear's ears, 80, 100 
Bear's foot, 62 
Beatrice, 49, 178 



347 



348 



INDEX 



Beaufort House, 21 

Beds, 20, 41, 42, 47-48 

Bee-plants, 240-243 

Bees, 240 

Belides, 119 

Bellis, 119 

Bellis perennis, 118 

Benedick, 49, 178 

Ben Jonson, 29, 136 

Ben Jonson, quoted, 249 

Bion, quoted, 134 

Birds, 10, 64, 69, 75, 287-288 

Birds Eyen, 107 

Blonde of Oxford, 4, 12 

Bloom, quoted, 38-39, 208- 

209 
Blue Flowers, 139, 140, 198, 

250-252 
Blue Helmet Flower, 199, 250- 

252 
Blue Pipe Flower, 35 
Boar's Head, 226 
Boccaccio, 16 
Borde, Andrew, 287 
Border-plant, 245 
Borders, 9, 78, 295-297 
Botticelli, 93, 94, 219 
Bottom the Weaver, 148, 257 
Bowling Alleys, 67, 74, 281 
Box, 264-266, 293, 297, 303 
Box-tree, 15 
Broom (genesta), 22, 143-144, 

303 
Browne, quoted, 47-48, 49, 122, 

136 
Browning, 236 
Buckingham House, 21 
Burleigh, Lord, gardens of, 27, 

51, 33 
Burns, 121 

Buttercup, 132, 208, 232, 252 
Buxus sempervirens, 264 



Calendula, 192 
Calendula officinalis, 189 
Call-Me-to-You, 202 



Caltha, 192 

Camomile, 74, 295, 244-246, 303 
Campions, 83 
Cantabrigia Illustrata, 301 
Canterbury Bells, 131 
Cardamine pratensis, 130 
Carew, Thomas, quoted, 98-99 
Carnations, 30, 35, 53, 84-85, 

181-189, 199, 298, 304-305 
Carol, Boar's Head, 226 
Carols, 255-256, 258 
Carraway, 14 
Carthaginian Apple, 218 
Cary, Walter, 34 
Caryophyllus, 182 
Cecil, Sir Robert, 22 
Celandine, Lesser, 132 
Century Book of Gardening, 

302 
Cerberus, 249 
Ceres, 116, 218 
Chalcedonian Lily, 162 
Chaucer, 12, loi, 119, 121, 181, 

191, 256 
Cheese Bowl, 203 
Cher feu, 179 
Chevre feuille, 179 
Chives, 14 

Christmas, 225, 253-255 
Christmas Carols, 255-256 
Christmas Flower, 81 
Circe, 228 
Clematis, 49, 50, 82 
Clemence Isaure, 127 
Clove Gilliflower, 181 
Clover, 18 
Clovis, 174 
Clown, 237, 264 
Clyte, 194 

Colin Clout, quoted, 191 
Colonna, Francesco, 16 
Colors, flower, 42-43, 139-140 
Colors, blending of, 42-J3, 

46-48 
Columbine, 14, 18, 84, 137-143, 

232, 252, 305 
Complete Gardener, The, 303 
Conduits of Water, 10 



INDEX 



349 



Conserves, flower, 125, 153, 

187, 192, 226 
Cook, E. T., quoted, 320-321 
Cookery, flowers in, 14, 210, 

235. 237, 241 
Cordials, 187, 192 
Cornflowers, 22 
Corona Imperialis, 70 
Corn Rose, 203 
Countess of Bedford, Garden 

of, 56-59 
Country Farm, quoted, 6S, 

69-72 
Cow dry, 23 
Cowslips, 22, 62, 73, 83, 99-100, 

101-107, 306 
Cowslip of Jerusalem, 14 
Crispin de Passe, 301 
Crocus, 79, 166, 306 
Crow-bells, 209 

Crow-flowers, 132, 207-209, 307 
Crowfoot, 82, 209 
Crowfoot, winter, 81 
Crown Imperial, 36, 79, 167- 

172, 307 
Crown of Thorns, 154 
Cuckoo-buds, 132, 214 
Cuckoo-flowers, 131, 132, 213- 

214, 308 
Cuckoo-pint, 209, 214 
Cuckoo-pintle, 209 
Cuddle-Me-to-You, 202 
Cuirs, 41, 290 
Cupid, 159 
Cupid's Flower, 202 
Cyclamen, 81 

Cymbeline, 98, 104, 136, 190 
Cytissus scoparius, 142 



D 



Daflfodil, Daffodils, 78-79, 

I 09-1 18, 308 
Daff'odil (Pastoral), 113-I15 
Daflfy-down-dilly, 113, 296 
Daisy. Daisies, 7, 14, 22, 62, 

84, 1 18- 1 22, 207, 308 



Damask Rose, 146, 147, 152- 

153 
Dame Quickly, 102 
Dandelions, 10 
Deceased Maiden's Lover, 

quoted, 208 
Delphinium, 197 
De Nature Rerum, 7 
Dial, 73. See Sun-dials 
Diana, 160, 167, 247 
Diana's Bud, 246-248, 309 
Dianthus, 181 

Dianthus Caryophyllus, iSi 
Dickens, quoted, 259 
Didymus Mountain, 34, 68, 300 
Didymus Mountain, quoted, 

193-194, 278-280 
Dobell, Sydney, quoted, 103 
Dog Rose, 321 
Don Armado, 138 
Don Juan, 153 
Door in Wall, 9, 13, 40 
Dove-cote, 287 
Dove-plant, 1.38 
Drayton, Michael, quoted, 113- 

115, 201 
Drosidae, 165-167 
Druids, 261 
Dryden. quoted, 121 
Duke, 123 

Duke of Burgundy, 103 
Duke of York, 230 
Dumain, 138 



Edging, 297, 299 
Edward III., 174 
Eglantine, 49, 50, 74, 1 50-151, 

178, 321 
Egyptians, 134, 164, 172, 213 
Elements of Architecture, 47 
Elizabeth. See Queen Eliza- 
beth 
Elizabeth of Bohemia, 47 
Elizabethan estates, 276 
Elizabethan housewife, 53-55 
Eliza, Queen of the Shepherds, 
22 



350 



INDEX 



Ellacombe, quoted, 182-183 
Elves, 243 

Ely Place, gardens of, 155 
Elysian Fields, 113, 116, 166, 

172 
Endive, 14 

English flowers, 83-85 
Enna, Fields of, 129 
Eros, 159 
Essay on Gardening (Bacon), 

55 . , . 

Euphues and His England, 

quoted, 30, 245 
Europa, 129 
Exeter Book, quoted, 6 



Fair Maid of France, 214 

Fair Maid of Kent, 184 

Fairies, 45, loi. See Elves 

Fairy Cups, loi 

Fairy Flowers, 175, 239 

Falernian wine, 160 

Falls, 172 

Falstaff, 51, 102, 201, 234, 244 

Fancy Flamey, 201 

Fanshaw, Sir Henry, garden 
of, 47 

Fennel, 9, 14, 137, 234-236, 309 

Fern. Ferns, 175-177, 309 

Fern-seed, 175-177 

Fidele, 97, 98, 136 

Fiori di ogni mese, 192 

Fitzherbert, 34 

Five Points of Good Husban- 
dry, 34 

Flag,_8i, 173, 310 

Flemish Painters, Gardens of, 
18 

Fletcher, Tohn, 108. 120 

Fleur-de-lis, 166, 167, 173-174 

Floramour, 82 

Floral Games, 127 

Flore et Blancheflore, 4 

Flor di prima vera, 93, 94, loi 

Flor di prima vera, gentile, 122 

Flos Adonis, 136 



Flos Africanus, 196 
Flos Sanguineus, 199 
Flower of Africa, 196 
Flower of Ajax, 197 
Flower of Bristow, 83 
Flower fanciers, 33-37 
Flower-gentile, 82 
Flower de luce, 81, 172-174. 

309-310 
Flower-of-the-Sun, 82, 213 
Flower of Tunis, 196 
Flowers, 71-72, 296-297 
Flowers, Anglo-Saxon, 7 
Flowers, Care of, 37-38 
Flowers, Colors of, 42-43, 139- 

140 
Flowers, Church, 18 
Flowers for decoration, 52 
Flowers, English, 83-85 
Flowers, Fad for, 24-25 
Flowers, Fifteenth Century, 

14 
Flowers, funeral, 224, 225 
Flowers, love of, 6 
Flowers, Mediaeval, 10, 14 
Flowers, Medicinal, 8, 14, 31. 
46, 53-55, 100, 125, 153, 
156, 179, 187, 192, 226, 228, 
229-230, 231, 235, 241, 244, 
246, 247 
Flowers, Norman, 7 
Flowers, perfumes of, 43 
Flowers, outlandish, 24, 32, 78- 

83 
Flowers, seasonable, 64-68 
Flowers, Tudor, 22 
Flowers, wedding, 221, 225 
Flowers, in wine, 129, 181, 248 
Foeniculum vulgare, 234 
Forest of Arden, 256 
Forthrights, 41, 42, 86 
Fountain of Love, 10 
Fountains, 42, 63, 285-287 
Franklyn's Tale, quoted, 12 
Frantic Foolish Cowslip, 107 
French cowslip, 80 
French marigold, 196 
Freya, 130, 261 



INDEX 



351 



Friar, 225 
Friar's Cowl, 209 
Fritillaria imperialis, 167 
Fruits, 8, 9, 21, 65, ^z 
Fruit-trees, 21 



Gadshill, 175 

Garden, Babar's, 19 

Garden books, 35 

Garden, Burleigh's, 34 

Garden, Countess of Bed- 
ford's. 56-59 

Garden, Curious Knotted, 41 

Garden of Delight, 3-5, 8-10, 
168, 199 

Garden of Eden, 222 

Garden, Earl of Salisbury's, 35 

Garden, Elizabethan, 23-29, 31, 
40-52, 86, 88-89 

Garden, Sir Henry Fanshaw's, 

47 
Garden of Fidelity, 19, 20 
Garden, Fifteenth Century, 

15-18 
Garden, Gerard's, 34 
Garden, Hackney, 35-36 
Garden, Hampton Court Pal- 
ace, 274 
Garden, Henry VHI.'s, 20, 21 
Garden, Hatfield, 35 
Garden, Havering -atte- Bower, 

26 
Garden, Herb, ^2 
Garden, House, 281 
Garden, Italian Renaissance, 

1S-18 
Garden, Kenilworth, 275 
Garden, Kitchen, 31 
Garden, lay-out (small), 41, 

70, 277 
Garr'en, lav-out (stately), 41 

70, 271-276 
Garden, Long Acre, garden at, 

32 
Garden, Mediaeval, 11-13 
Gardea Moor Park, 56-59 



Garden, Nosegay, 71 
Garden, Novelties, 20 
Garden, Parkinson's, 32 
Garden, pleasant .lowers, 31 
Garden, pleasures, 29 
Garden, Small, 3-5 
Garden, Terraced, 276 
Garden, Theobald's, 2^, 34, 39, 

51, 301 
Garden, Tuggie's, 35 
Garden, Uses of, 52 
Garden, Wolsey's, 30 
Garden, Zouche's, 35-36 
Gardens, Anglo-Saxon, 6-7 
Gardens, Burleigh's, 27, 33, 34, 

39, 51. 301 _ 
Gardens, Flemish painters, 18 
Gardens, Indian, 18 
Gardens, Italian painters, 18 
Gardens, Ladies in, 13, 14 
Gardens, Lay-out of, 76-77 
Gardens, Locked, 13 
Gardens, Mogul Emperors, 18- 

19 
Gardens, Nonsuch Palace, 21, 

273-274 

Gardens, Norman, 7 

Gardens, Rennaissance influ- 
ence, 38-39 

Gardens, Roman, 6 

Gardens, Sixteenth Century, 20 

Gardens, Tudor, 21, 23-29 

Garlands. See Wreaths 

Garofalo, II, 187 

Garth, 6-7 

Gaskell, Mrs., quoted, 149 

Gate, 40, 280 

Gazebo, 281 

Gentlemen's Magazine, quoted. 



Gerade, See Gerard 

Gerard, 33-34, 51, 109, 162, 218, 

248 
Gerard. Garden of, 34 
Gerard, quoted, 128, 133, 168, 

187. 201, 230, 231 
George Gisze, 53 
Germander, 62, 78 



352 



INDEX 



Gethsemane, Garden of, 170 
Giardino segreto, 15 
Gilliflowers, 7, 21, 22, 30, 35, 

83, 84, 184, 186-187, 199, 

296 
Gilliflowers, names of, 184 
Gladiolus, 166 
Golden Apple, 219, 221 
Golden Bough, 261 
Gold Flower, 191, 192 
Golds, 14 

Gardener, business, 66-67 
Gardener's Labyrinth, quoted, 

34, 193-194, 278-280, 29s, 

299, 300 
Gosse, Edmund, quoted, 156 
Googe, Barnaby, 35 
Great Harwich, 184, 185 
Greek myths, 97, 115, 119, 129, 

130, 134, 164, 174, 194, 213. 

218-219, 221, 228, 234, 238, 

259, 264 

Greta Herbal, 34 
Guillaume de Lorris, 8 
Guirlande de Julie, 171 
Gunpowder, 249 
Gustavus Adolphus, 171 
Grumio, 51 
Gyllofre. See Gilliflowers 

H 

Hackney, garden at, 35-36 

Haggard, Rider, quoted, 135- 
136 

Hakluyt, quoted, 149, 152 

Hamlet, 119, I37, 207 

Hampton Court Palace, 20, 51 

Hampton Court Palace, gar- 
dens, 274 

Hampton Court Palace, Foun- 
tain, 286 

Hampton Court Palace, 
Mount, 282 

Handful of Pleasant Delights, 
quoted, 127-128, 225, 232 

Hanging Gardens of Baby- 
lon, 5 



Harebell, 136-137, 207, 266, 310 
Harleian Mss., 11 
Harpocrates, 159 
Harrison, William, quoted, 24 
Hatfield, garden, 35-36 
Hathaway, Ann, 3 
Havering-atte-Bower, garden, 

26 
Heartsease, 84, 202 
Heath, 59, 62 
Hebrews, 164 
Hecate, 249 
Hedera Helix, 257 
Hedges, 40, 59, 63, ^T, 293 
Helena, 98 
Heliotrope, 194 
Henry II., 7 
Henry V., 103 
Henry VHi., garden, 20, 21, 

274 
Hentzner, Paul, quoted, 27-28, 

285-287 
Hepatica, 81 
Hercules, 249 
Herrick, quoted, 265-266 
Herba leonis, 139 
Herba Marguerita, 122 
Herba Sanctje Marise, 234 
Herb of Grace, 48, 229-230, 237 
Herb garden, 72 
Herb Trinity, 201 
Herbal, Gerard's, 34-35 
Herbal, Great, 26 
Herbals, 25-26 
Herbals, List of, 34-35 
Herbs, 14, 22, 46, 52, y2 
Herbs, farsing, 241 
Herbs, pot, 7 
Herbs, medicinal, 8 
Herbstrewer, 52 
Hermia, 98 
Hero, 49, 178 
Hill. Thomas, 34, 68 
Holbein, 53 

Hole, Dean, quoted, 151 
Holly, 253-257, 311 
• Holly, song, 257 
Hollyhock, 22, 85 



INDEX 



353 



Homer, 228 

Honey of Mount Hymettus, 

240 
Honeysuckle, 7, 49, 50, 82, 293 

311 
Hood, quoted, 158 
Horse-blobs, 132 
Hortorum Viridariorumque, 

301 
Hortus Floridus, 301 
Hulfeere, 256 
Hungary water, 226 
Huon of Bordeaux, 4 
Hyacinth, 79, 136, 166 
Hybla, 240 
Hymen, 213 
Hypernotomachia, 15 
Hyssop, 78 



Italian painters, gardens of, 18 
Ilex aquifolium, 253 
Imogen, 98, 136 
Importation of flowers, 24-25 
Iris, 22, 172, 309-310 
Iris pseudacorus, 172 
Ironmongers, Worshipful Com- 
pany of, 37 
Isaiah, quoted, 265 
Ivy, 255-256. 257-260, 311 
Ivy Green, The, 259-260 



Jabbervvocky, 289 

Jachimo, 104 

Jacinth, 136 

Jack-an-Apes - on - Horseback, 

84, 107 
Jack-in-the-Pulpit, 209, 315 
James I., 51 
Jami, quoted, 159 
Jars, 41, 284-285 
Jasmine, 22, 82 
Jessica, 86 

Jesus Christ, legend, 171 
Jews, 217 



Joan's Silver Pin, 203 

John de Garlande, quoted, 8 

Johnny-Jump-Ups, 200, 201, 
203 ^ 

Johnson's Gardeners Diction- 
ary, 302 

Jonquil, 115 

Juliet, 86, 215 

July flowers, 187, 189 

Juno's Rose, 162 

Junquilia, no 

Jupiter, 160 

K 

Kate Greenaway, 40 
Katharine of Arragon, 218 
Keeler, Harriet L., quoted, 

140-141 
Kenilworth, 29 

Kenilworth, garden of, 39, 275 
Keats, quoted, 148, 196 
Kingcups, 132 
King Eteocles, 219 
King Henry IV., 175, 234, 244, 

248 
King Henry VI., 155, 174 
King John, 123 
King Lear, 213 
King Richard II., 230 
Kiss-Me-at-the-Garden - Gate, 

202 
Kiss-Me-Quick, 202 
Knight's Spur, 197 
Knots, 20, 41, 46, 63, 78, 29S- 

301 
Knotted Garden, Curious, 41 



Labyrinth, 41, 51 

Ladies, skill in cookery, 14 

Ladies, skill in simples, 14 

Lady's Bower, 49, 82 

Lady-Smocks, 130-133, 214, 311 

Laertes, 234 

Lamb, Charles, quoted, 288 

Landor, quoted, 179 



354 



INDEX 



Laneham, Robert, quoted, 275 

Lark's claws, 197 

Lark's heels, 84, 197 

Larkspur, 81, 197-200, 252, 312 

Lark's toes, 197 

Lavender, 22, 231-233, 237, 312 

Lavender Spica, 231 

Law, Ernest, quoted, 274, 338- 

345 
Lawson, William, 35, 73 
Lawson, William, quoted, 245, 

296, 297, 299-300 
Leate, Nicholas, 33, 36, 37 
Lee, Vernon, quoted, 15-18 
Leicester, Earl of, 29, 275 
Leminius, Dr., quoted, 52-53 
Lent Lily, 115 
Lete, Nicholas. See Leate 
Levant Company, 2>6 
Lewis Carroll, 287 
Li^bault, John, 68 
Lilac, 35 „ o 

Lily. Lilies, 7, 8, 14, 18, 22, 78, 

79, 160-167 
Lily, Annunication, 313-3^5 
Lily Conally, 22, 71, 161, 314 
Lily, Lent, 115 
Lily Madonna, 165, 167 
Lily Martagon, 36, 79, 162- 

163 
Lily, Scarlet Martagon, 162 
Lily Tiger, 163 
Lily-of-the-Valley, 22, 71, 161, 

Lilium album, 162 
Lilium candidum, 161 
Lilium convallium, 62 
Lilium Perticum, 170 
Liverwort, 8i 
Lobel, Mathias de, 36 
Lobelia, 36 
Locker-L^mpson, 46 
Locker-Lampson, quoted, 181 
Loggan, David, 301 
London Pride, 188, 189, 298 
London Tufts, 189 • 
Long Acre, garden at, 32 
Long Purples, 207, 209-210, 315 



Longueville, 138 
Love-in-idleness, 200, 202, 247 
Love's Labour's Lost, 41, 118, 

133, 145 
Lords-and-Ladies, 209, 210 
Lorenzo, 86 
Louis VIL, 174 
Lucrece, 118 
Luini, 141 
Lupton, quoted, 190 

chiDs I'ios cuculi, 213 
Lyly, John, quoted, 30, 245 
Lyte, quoted, 100, 190, 226 

M 

Madame Plantier, 320 
Madonna of the Melagrana, 

219 
Madonna of the Rose, 160 
Madonna of the Rose Bush, 

160 
Madonna of the Rose Garden, 

160 
Madonna of the Rose Hedge, 

160 
Madonna Lily, 165, 167 
Maiden's Blush, 320 
Maison Rustique, La, 68 
Mallows, 14 
Malvolio, 86, 264 
Marathon, 235 
Margaret of Orleans, 195 
Marguerite, 121, 122 
Margueritons, 122 
Maria, 86, 264 
Marigold. Marigolds, 7, 8, 22, 

82-84, 189-196, 315-316 
Marina, 124 

Marjoram, 14, 22, 236-239, 316 
Markham, Gervase, 68, 69 
Markham, Gervase, quoted, 50, 

299 
Marshall, William, 34 
Martagon Lily, 36, 162-163 
Martagons, 79 
Marvel of Peru, 35, 82 
Mary-buds, 190 



INDEX 



355 



Maske of Flowers, 325-330 

Maudelyn, 121 

Maudlin, 121 

Mausoleum of Artemisia, 248 

May flower, 131 

May Lady, masque of, 23 

May weed, 136 

Mazes, 41, 50-51, 74, 300 

Meadow cress, 131 

Measure for Measure, 220 

M eet - Me - at - the - Garden-Gate, 

202 
Melissa officinalis, 243 
Menthe, 234 

Menthe de Notre Dame, 234 
Merry Wives of Windsor, 102, 

174. 243 
Mezerion, 64, 63 
Middleton and Rowley, quoted. 

Midsummer Daisy, I2i 
Midsummer Night, 175-176, 

200 
Midsummer Night's Dream, 

98, loi, 102, 108, 247, 257 
Milton, 201, 237 
Milton, quoted, 98, 120 
Mint. Mints, 9, 14, 22, 233-236, 

317 
Mistletoe, 261-264 
Mistletoe Bough, 261, 262 
Mistress Ford, 103 
Mogul Emperors, gardens of, 

18-19 
Mohammed, 115 
Mohammedans, quotation from, 

129 
Moly, 228 
Monk's Cane, 250 
Monk's hood, 197, 199, 232, 

248-252, 317 
Montacute, 281 

ATontacute, lay-out of, 272-273 
Montausier, Due de, 171 
Moon, 160 
Moon daisy, 121 
Moor Park, garden at, 56-59 
More the Merrier, quoted, 245 



More, Sir Thomas, quoted, 21, 

48, 224 
Mort de Garin, La, 12 
Mounts, 20, 73, 282 
Much Ado About Nothing, 153, 

178 
Mugwort, 248 
Musk Rose, 44, 45, 73, 14&-150, 

320 
Myrtle, 160, 219-223 
Myrtus latifolia, 219 

N 

Narcissus, 22, 115 

Narcissus pseudo narcissus, 

109 
Nash, 259 
Nasturtium, 81, 318 
Nasturtium Indicum, 199 
Neckan, Alexander, quoted, 78 
Nettle red, 14 
Nettles, 207 

New Orchard and Garden, 35 
New Orchard and Garden, 

quoted, 72-73, 75, 245 
Noisette, 321 
Nonesuch, 83 
Nonesuch Palace, fountain at. 

286 
Nonesuch Palace, gardens of, 

21, 39 
Nonesuch Palace, lay-out of, 

273-274 
Nonesuch orange color, 32 
Nosegay, 43, 128, 199, 232, 236 
Nosegay garden, 71 
Norman Castle, 183 
Norman Kings, gardens of, 7 

O 

Oberon, 45, 175, 200, 247 
Oceanides, 174 
CEdipus Coloneus, 116 
Oleander, 82 

Olivia, garden of, 86, 264 
Ophelia, 119, 121, 124, 137, 200, 
207, 208, 214, 224, 230 234 



356 



INDEX 



Orange-trees 20 

Orchard, 8, 31, 51, 7^, 74, 75 

Order of Genest, 144 

Orchis mascula, 209 

Orris root, 81, 173 

Ort-garth, 6 

Orto, 16 

Othello, 203 

Our Lady's flowers, 130 

Outlandish flowers, 24, 22, 78- 

83 
Ovid, quoted, 250 
Ox-eye daisy, 121 
Oxlip, Oxlips, 107-108, 318 
Oxonia Illustrata, 301 



Paestum, 159 

Palsieworts, 107 

Pansy, names of, 202 

Pansy. Pansies, 22, '84, 200- 
203, 298, 318 

Papaver somniferum, 203 

Paquerette, 121, 122 

Paradisi in Sole, 32, 35, 83 

Pasque flowers, 135 

Paralyses, 99 

Paralysis vulgare pratensis, lor 

Paris, 219, 221 

Parkinson, John, 31, 32, 35, 75, 
151, 156, 196 

Parkinson, garden of, 32-33 

Parkinson, quoted, 38, 75-78, 
80, 81, 82-83, 84-85, 99-100, 
106-107, 109-111, 121-122, 
134-135, n7, 138, 146-147, 
149-150, 150-151, 152-153, 
161, 162-163, 168-170, 173, 
183, 185, 186, 186-187, 188, 
192-193, 197-198, 199, 203, 
211, 214, 215-216, 220, 227, 
229, 231-232, 235, 238, 240- 
241, 242, 243-244, 245-246, 
250-252, 321 

Parsley, 14 

Paths, 9, 294 



Peacock, 288 

Pensee, 200 

Penshurst, 292 

Pensioners, 102 

Peony. Peonies, 22, 85 

Peony, Roman, 14 

Perdita, 3, 72, 86, 98, 108, in, 

129, 160, 162, 167, 168, 

172, 181, 190, 225, 231, 233, 

237, 242 
Perennials, 46 
Perfume, 43, 44, 45, 46, 153, 

231, 232, 239, 244. See 

Scent. 
Pericles, 124 
Periwinkle, 7, 22, 62 
Persian Lily, 170 
Peruvian Sunflower, 196 
Petruchio, 52 
Petty Mullins, 107 
Pheasant's Eye, 117 
Pheidippides, 236 
Phoradendron, 262 
Phosphorescent flowers, 199 
Pickwick Papers, 259 
Picotee, 182 

Pink. Pinks, 18, 85, 187-189 
Pinks, names of, 188 
Pink of My John, 202 
Pinkster, 187 
Pipe tree, 82 
Plantagenesta, 143-144 
Plantagenets, The, 144 
Plashing, 50 
Pleached alley, 50, 292 
Pleaching, 50 
Pleasance, 4, 11 
Pliny, 134, 148, 176, 181, 218, 

234, 259 
Pliny, garden of, 6 
Pliny, quoted, 234-235 
Pluto, 218, 234, 249, 264 
Poet's Hyacinth, 197 
Poet's Narcissus, 117-118 
Poison, 249-250 
Polyanthus, 107 
Pomegranate, 35, 215-219, 319 
Pomegranate-trees, 20 



INDEX 



357 



Poppy. Poppies, 14, 22, 84, 

203-206, 319 
Portia, 87 
Potpourri, 156, 324 
Prickly Coral Tree, 83 
Primerolles, lOi 
Primevera, 93 
Primrose. Primroses, 21, 22, 

30, 62, ^2>, 83, 93-101, 319 
Primula eliator, 107 
Primula veris, 122 
Primula vulgaris, 93 
Prior, Dr., quoted, loo-ioi 
Proserpine, 116, 123, 129, 218, 

234 
Prospero, 268 
Pseudo narcissus, no 
Pteris aquilina, 175 
Puck, loi, 144, 200, 247 
Pulsatillas, 135 
Punica, 215, 218 
Pyracantha, ^^, 83 



Q 



Queen Elizabeth, 22, 102 
Queen Elizabeth, gardens of, 
26 



Ragged Robin, 214, 208 
Rails for beds, 20 
Rambouillet, Julie de, 171 
Ranunculus, 17, 82, 198, 208, 

266 
Rape of Lucrece, 118, 191 
Rapin, quoted, 119, 221, 224- 

228, 238-239 
Renaissance, Influence on Eng- 
lish Gardens, 38-39 
Richard Coeur de Lion, quoted, 

12 

Richmond Green, 245 
Richmond Palace, Garden of, 

26 
Rimmon, 217 
Rocket, 22 



Rock-garden, 302 

Roman de Berte, 12 

Roman de la Rose, 4, 8-9, 19 

Romans, 4-13 

Romaunt of the Rose, 4, 8-9, 

19 
Romeo, 86, 248 
Romeo and Juliet, 31, 225, 248 
Rosarubie, 136 
Rosa alba, 147-148 
Rosa Anglica alba, 147 
Rosa Anglica rubra, 146 
Rosa canina, 153 
Rosa centifolia, 151, 159 
Rosa damascene, 152 
Rosa eglanteria, 150 
Rosa Junonis, 162 
Rosa Moschata, 148 
Rosa versicolor, 154 
Rosary, 160 
Rose. Roses, 7, 8, 10, 14, 18, 21, 

22, 30, 49, 50, ^z, 78, 14s- 

160, 293, 319-322 
Rose canker, 153 
Rose, damask, 146, 147, 152- 

153, 160, 297 
Rose, dog, 153 
Rose, Hundred Leaf, 151-152 
Rose, musk, 44, 45, jt,, 148-150, 

320 
Rose, Provencal, 151-152 
Rose, red, 146-147 
white, 147-148, 160 
variegated, IS4-ISS 
yellow, 156 
yellow, double, 37 
York and Lancaster, 154-155 
Rose of Sharon, 115 
Rose-water, 156, 159 
Rosemarinus officinalis, 224 
Rosemary, 14, 2.2, 48, 72, 74, 

241, 322 
Roxburgh Ballad, quoted, 222 
Rue, 14, y2, 225-228, 322 
Rushes, 52 
Ruskin, quoted, 158, 165-167, 

203-204 
Ruta graveolus, 228 



358 



INDEX 



Sable Flag, 35 

Sable Flower, 8i 

Saffron, 14, 210 

Saffron Crocus, 210 

Saffron flowers, 79 

Saffron Hill, 212 

Saffron lily, 115 

Saffron Walden, 212 

Sage, 14 

Salads, 237 

Salisbury, Earl of, garden of, 

35 

Sappho, 157 

Satureia, 242 

Saturnalia, 253 

Savory, 237, 242, 322 

Scent, y2, 55, 106, 108, 124, 125, 
126, 128, 153, 156, 159, 161, 
193. 199, '2'V, 232, 237, 239, 
241, 245, 264. See Per- 
fume 

Scilla nutans, 136, 207 

Seats, garden, 284 

Seeds, 67-68, 278-279 

Sejanus, 249 

Semele, 259 

Serving-man's Joy, 230 

Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit, 
18, 142 

Shallow, 51 

Shakespeare, 3, 33. 4i, 43. 80. 
94, 98, loi, 103, 104, 109, 
III, 118, 123, 124, 125, 132, 
133, 143. 145. 148, 153, 157, 
162, 172, 174, 178, 203, 207- 
208, 215, 219, 230, 248, 256, 
257, 264 

Shakespeare, quoted, 44, 45, 49, 
Si» 97, 98, loi, 103, 108, 
109, III, 118, 120, 122, 123, 
124, 125, 126, 129, 131, 132, 
135. 136, 137. 143, 145. 155. 
161, 174, 175, 178, 190, 191, 
207, 225, 230, 231, 237, 239, 
244, 247, 257, 258 

Shelley, quoted, 124, 158, 161 



Shepherd's Calendar, 181, 182 

Sidney, Philip, 23 

Sidney, Philip, quoted, 28 

Simples, 14 

Sir Andrew Aguecheek, 86, 264 

Sir Toby Belch, 86, 264 

Sir John Lubbock, 139 

Skeat, 106 

Smilax, 213 

Snapdragon. Snapdragons, 22, 

84 
Soil, 278 

Solomon, quoted, 18 
Sonnet, XCIX, 125, 237 
Sonnet, LIV, 157 
Sops-in-Wine, 30, 182, 183 
Sops-in-Wine, yellow, z(> 
Sophocles, quoted, 116 
Sorcery, plants associated 

with, 176, 177, 179, 228, 

247 
vSowbread. 81 
Spanish Gipsy, 191 
Spenser, Edmund, 48, 143, 224 
Spenser, Edmund, quoted, 22- 

23, 50, 181-182, 191 
Sphinx, 172 
Spinks, 131 
Sports, 2i7 
St. Barnabas, 214 
St. Catharine, 219 
St. Clotilde, 174 
St. Dominick, 160 
St. Francis de Sales, quoted, 

126, 194 
St. John the Baptist, 176, 267 
St. John's Eve, 175 
Stage-Setting, elaborate, 327 
Star of Bethlehem, 166 
Stevens, Charles, 68 
Still-room, 54 
Stock gilliflowers, 22 
Strand, gardens in, 33 
Strawberry. Strawberries, 18, 

62 
Strawberry leaves, 44 
Strewing, 52 
Strewing-plants, 225, 233 



INDEX 



359 



Summer's Last Will and Tes- 
tament, 259 

Sun-dials, 21, 274, 286, 288-289, 
292 

Sun-flower, 7, 196 

Sun, flowers associated with, 
190, 226, 230, 

Surflet, Richard, 68, 226 

Sweet Balm, 243-244, 323 

Sweetbrier, 62, 150-151, 321 

Sweet Johns, 30, 85, 188, 189 

Sweet Marjoram, 238 

Sweet-williams, 21, 22, 62, 85, 
188, 189, 298, 323 

Sylva, 249 

Symbolism, 19 

Symbols, floral, 18, 19 

Syringa, 82 



Taming of the Shrew, 52 
Tamora, 264 
Tempest, 144, 258 
Temple garden, 155 

Temple, Sir William, quoted, 

5^59 
Tennyson, quoted, 103, 209 
Terrace, 39, 40, 272-273, 289- 

292 
Thaxter, Celia, quoted, 180, 

204-206 
Theobald's garden, 27, 33, 39 

51, 301 
Thomas, H. H., quoted, 278, 

282-284. 294, 295, 315 
Thornbury, quoted, 53-55 
Thorpe, John, 23 
Three - Faces - Under - a - H o d , 

201 
Thrift, 78, 295, 298 
Thyme, 14, 45, 62, 233, 239- 

241, 295, 323 
Thymus serpyllum, 239 
Tiger lilies, 163 
T'sio. Benvenuto, 187 
Titania, 45, 49, loi, 102, 108, 

123, 148, 178, 200, 239, 247, 

257 



Titus Andronicus 264 
Tools, gardener's, 8 
Topiary work, 15, 39, 48 
Tradescant, John, 35, no, 216 
Traveris, Peter, 34 
Tricolor, 201 
Trinity (clover), 18 
Trouveres, 3, 11 
Twelfth Night, 44, 86, 123 
Two Noble Kinsmen, 94, 108, 

120, 197, 239 
Tubs, 284-285 
Tudor mansions, 23 
Tuggie, Mistress, 35 
Tuggie, Ralph, 33, 35 
Tuggie, Ralph, gardens of, 184 
Tuggie, carnation named for, 

T84 
Tuggy. See Tuggie 
Tulips, 80 
Turkey cocks, 149 
Turk's Cap, 36, 162 
Turner, William, Dean of 

Wells, 26, 34 
Turner, William, quoted, 176- 

177, 250 
Tusser, Thomas, 34 
Tusser, Thomas, quoted, 100, 

211, 258 
Tussie Mussie, 43, 199 



U 

Ulysses, 228 

Underworld, 116, 218, 264 
Urns, 41 

V 

Vases, 41, 284-285 

Vegetables, 7 

Venus, 119, 133, 159, 160, 219, 

221, 234, 238 
Venus and Adonis, 133 
Vermouth, 248 
Viola odorata, 122 
Viola tricolor, 200 



36o 



INDEX 



Violet, Violets, 7, 8, lo, 14, 18. 

21, 22, 30, 62, T2), 84, 122- 

129, 158, 178, 323 
Virgil, 261 
Virgin, flowers associated 

with, 130, 160, 164, 190, 234 
Viscum album, 261 
Viedeman de Vries, 301 

W 

Wake Robin, 209, 210 

Walks, 41 

Wall, 19, 40 

Wall flowers, 22, 83 

Walpole, Horace, 56 

Wanstead, 23 

Ware Jr'ark, 47 

Warden pies, 210 

Wars of the Roses, 38 

Water-lilies, 166 

Watson, Forbes, quoted, 95-97, 

104-106, 108, 116-118, 126, 

158-159, 171, 212 
Whitehill, Fountain at, 286 
Windflower, 80, 133 
Windsor Castle, 243 
Wine, flowers in, 129, 181, 248 



Winter cherry, 22 

Winter's Tale, 98, 108, 109, iii, 

123, 152, 190, 225, 237 
Wither, George, quoted, 195 
Wolfsbane, 81, 248, 250 
Wolsey Cardinal, 274 
Wolsey, Cardinal, garden of, 

20 
Woodbine, 50, 73, 74, 178 
Wordsworth, 132 
Wordsworth, quoted, 112 
Wormwood, 8, 248 
Wotton, Sir Henry, quoted, 47, 

158, 276 
Wreaths and garlands, 13, 128, 

181, 221, 234, 265 



Yellow Rose of Constan- 
tinople, 37 
Yellow Lark's heels, 199 
York and Lancaster rose, 154 
York and Lancaster song, 155 



Zouche, Lord, garden of, 35-36 



. * . ^ O ^ ^\N* 



>A 



.^ -^. 



^. c-^- 



X"^ „ V I • 



o\ 



^■^f 

<"% 









.0 o^ 









v^^ '^^ 






■0' 












o 0- 



';.„^^- 



.■\^ 



\^' 








./ 


% 








•0. 


/ 


I' 




o 




^ / 






.'% 








' . 


"^ '' « 


;% 




' ^ 




•^o 


0^ 








■%- 


c^^ 


■•\*^' 


v*-' 


""^^ 




- " 8 


1 > " 


■:>^ 


x^ 


^r, 









<'^ ^' 



=?/. ... A^''" ^^^ 






^. t"^' 



:.-)^" 



vOO. 



# o 





-^P. 

■^'c^ 


O '' ' 1 ' s^ c\ 


o 


- -^ . "-^> ■ ..\\ V 


1 « . ^/^ 







^<^ v-^^ 



>^d^ 



; 



.^ .0 









o'«-' 






-^- 






o> 


















->, 



V^ ^ 












o, ' H 









'^., '" 



-NC-^ 






^ .0- 










\o^.. 






\ 


#% 






k\' 



4> '''^^ :. 



"-pj. ^ 



























,0-' 



^..^^. 



xf. 









^ 



%; 






'-■.j.,_,.-.-T' 












0^ 






<•> 



'^. 



. \^ C- .>*■. - 'Ail '^. v 






... .0 



-,.>' 






o 



'i.-^^ 



0^ 






^•^ 



v^^ ^'^-^^ 



x-^ 






.^^ ^^>< 









^^■i* 

,^^' '>•.: 



.'^•■iis^'^; 



. , X 












oo^ 



,»X^'' './• 






' -^ a'^ 



y*-. 






